China’s Consortium Chains May Not Be Trusted Internationally, Says Vitalik Buterin

China has impressively paved its way in the blockchain space. In fact, the Chinese government and large enterprises in China are also making impressive innovations to include blockchain technology in their functioning. As per one of the biggest statements made by Co-founder of Etherium, Vitalik Buterin, China needs to do much more than just deploy and create over on private and semi-private Consortium blockchain to get international recognition for using the blockchain technology.

What did Buterin say?

As per a statement made by Buterin, the Co-founder of Etherium, he said that the steps taken by Chinese entities to boost the use of blockchain technology are pretty impressive. But, the best use of the technology can be made if the technology will be implemented internationally on different international platforms. Thus, it can be quite difficult for the Chinese administration and government to get the trust of other nations on international platforms to transect them in digital currency and the use of blockchain technology. Thus, until and unless the Chinese government has the plan to influence and encourage their trading partner nations and regions, it can be a difficult task to utilize the amazing benefits offered by Blockchain technology.

Thus, the basic point made by Buterin was that in an international arena, you could rarely see a government or a nation that is trusted by all. In fact, public blockchain technology and digital currencies like Etherium are widely accepted by the public and countries at large. This is because the public blockchain technology is perceived as neutral.

Additional points by Buterin

Buterin added another point in his statement that made clear why China should focus more on public blockchain technology development. As per Buterin, it can be a drastic step for China if they try to work on the development of more public blockchain technology that can be similar to the Blockchain Service Network (BSN).

Buterin also added that consortium blockchain is in the limelight these days due to its scalability, but the security they provide to the private entities tend to be highly conservative. But, he also made an important point and confirmed that public blockchain would surmount the safety and security features offered by consortium blockchain in the long term.

Buterin said that it would be too early to comment about the technology developed by China, and only time will decide the effectiveness of the projects built on blockchain technology in China.

Why Trump Banning TikTok May Be a Blessing for Bitcoin Price

The recent anti-China sentiment has been gaining traction in the North American country with the origin of the current pandemic and China’s growing stronghold in the east. As a result, the American president has promised his land that he would ultimately prohibit the Chinese video-sharing platform, Tiktok. This will have significant repercussions that the president could never have fathomed. A significant consequence of such a decision would make about eighty million people turn towards Crypto technology. This would mean even brighter days for Bitcoin valuations and the whole crypto-community as well.

How it goes

The last day had put the price of several big crypto-currencies over the highest rung they could achieve in a year as predicted by our experts. These rises were also marked by Ether increasing beyond the four hundred dollar mark in its valuations. A new industry altcoin also saw the rising price of its shares and went past Bitcoin even for an instant. The most accurate prediction tool when it comes to market evaluations in the crypto-currency circuit predicts that Bitcoin is set to see a further upward tick with other low-level altcoins also following suit.

Other Crypto Performances

Besides Bitcoin, other significant players and cryptocurrencies have also been experiencing surging prices in the market, which has boosted investor confidence. Close behind Bitcoin, Ether is gradually climbing the ladder and soon will go neck-to-neck with the industry giant that brought the concept of BlockChain itself into the fore-front.

How Trump is helping Matter

Generation z has been recognized as the largest market for social media, where blockchain can flourish. With millions of users leaving Tiktok and the incumbent United States President trying to completely wipe the application out of America, there is space for blockchain-based programs to jump in and make good use of the largest group of consumers sitting with nothing to do on their phones. Thus many blockchain supported applications have started operations as the five billion hours the new generation consumes act as fertile grounds for such companies to flourish.

With Bitcoin holding strong and bullish trends leading the market, there are only green pastures for this leading corporation in the path ahead. If it is able to continue with such a condition and hold its prowess, it is set to settle at a point where investors will flock by the thousands.

Things to Consider When Giving Crypto to Charities or Others

United States Congress has increased tax benefits for U.S. people who regularly give donations. Different people give different types of donations and after the charity, their main focus is towards their tax position. Are you willing to give cryptocurrency as a donation? Here are some of the important things that you should know before you do so.

What Should You Give As A Donation?

Giving and receiving crypto does not include taxable situation for both ends. If you want to give crypto as a donation then you should decide which asset of crypto you should donate. If you donate a low tax basis asset can reduce future taxable income.

The recipient of the charity is not always exempt from the U.S. tax. If they’re not exempt from the tax, they will give crypto as a non-charity on the lowest tax basis. If they want to convert their gift into a non-charity that has high benefits then they prioritize crypto with high tax basis.

Can A Crypto Gift Give You A Loss?

More often than not, if the crypto asset is being received as a donation, then it can be a loss of the recipient. Due to the nature of cryptocurrency, its tax basis is higher than its market price. A donor should sell his crypto for cash and then give that cash for a charity or non-charity purpose.

A crypto gift that has in-built loss can be cancelled if it is given for a non-charity purpose. It happens because the donor’s tax basis does not apply to the recipient in case of built-in loss crypto asset.

Charitable Deduction On Crypto Gifts

Unmarried and married taxpayers are entitled to tax deductions on a single payment of $12,400 and $24,800 respectively. Even if this threshold is not achieved, a taxpayer can still apply for a charitable tax deduction up to $300. Often the deduction is based on the current market value of the crypto asset.

What If The Charity Or Non-Charity Unit Does Not Accept Crypto?

Many renowned charities are accepting crypto as a payment option. But according to a report, only 2% of charitable organizations are doing so in the country. But if the charity of your choice does not accept crypto asset as payment then you can pay them through a donor fund.

A donor-advised or donor fund accept payment in cryptocurrency. Fidelity Charitable is one of the largest donor funds in the U.S. It accepts payment in Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, and Litecoin.

Statistics Prove Cheaper Altcoins Statistics Prove Cheaper Altcoins Don’t Always Give Highest Returns

Facts and figures show once again that cheaper altcoins don’t always give the highest returns. When investors start trading in altcoins, they have dreams of making it big from cheaper altcoins. Once in the year 2017, many beginners in altcoin trading invested in low priced digital currencies and made huge profits. But this is proved to be a fallacy.

Many cryptocurrency traders believe that Bitcoin won’t be able to rise above 50% or more in a week because $18400 is not feasible. Such investors are moving away from Bitcoins. They have now started to put their money to buy the lesser-priced altcoins with the hope that the cheaper cryptocurrencies will provide greater profits.

As declared in the CoinMarketCap’s price index, 39 of the top 60 altcoins have priced less than $3 on July 12. It is not at all easy for the investors to choose one from these 39. The odds are high for investors who want to get high returns from cheaper altcoins.

After analysis of the cryptocurrency market data for the past few years, it is seen that altcoins can earn you profits even when the crypto market is relatively stable. This is possible when altcoin expands its shares in the market. The time during which this happens is known as altcoin season, and it spans from a few weeks to two months.

Altcoin season begins when there is a drop in the dominance of Bitcoins. Only a 3% decrease in the market share of Bitcoins affects $8 billion in valuation. This shifts the market cap of alternative cryptocurrencies or altcoins to $100 billion. On examining the price data of Bitcoins and altcoins during 15-day periods over the past year, some interesting facts came up. When the cryptocurrency market is bullish or neutral, then there is a rise in the price of altcoins or alternative Bitcoins

Also, when Bitcoin breaks its support level, investors avoid taking risks with altcoins. As a result, the dominance of Bitcoins increases.

There was a 2.2% dip in the recent phase of Bitcoin prices to make it 63.8% on July 11. Dash’s price went up by 21%, EOS was up by 23%, and Ether by 25%. But the prices of low-cost altcoins did not go up. So, in this period also, investing in the cheaper altcoins was not a winning strategy.

On March 12, the price of Bitcoin fell by more than 50% in just eight hours. It recovered a little in the next few weeks but could not break the $7000 price level. Investors moved to altcoin then, and their market cap rallied at $71.6 billion, i.e., an impressive 23.4%. As reported by CoinTelegraph, only 7 out of 41 cheaper altcoins outperformed the market capitalization compared with the average. And 14 of these finished 10% or more behind the

After analyzing the price data for the past four 15-day periods, CoinTelegraph reports that when altcoin surges in comparison to Bitcoin, the three least priced coins outperformed only once. 69% of the “less than $3” altcoins performed worse than the average of altcoin data. So, it was once again proven that investing in cheaper cryptocurrencies is not always profitable during a bullish rally in altcoins.

There may be strategies to increase returns by buying cheaper altcoins during altcoin seasons. But choosing such an altcoin won’t give you a guarantee of higher returns than the market average.

Bitfinex Launches Open-Source Crypto-Powered Streaming Protocol

Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange platform has launched its crypto-powered P2P data streaming code on the open-source GitHub. This protocol can be used to stream data through the blockchain network.

This company is known for its secure crypto exchange for many years. And now a new launch has set the crypto industry on fire just like bitcoin evolution in uk. Users can share media through a decentralized network. The company has named this protocol to “Dazaar”.

According to the company, this protocol can be accessed through GitHub, a popular open-source platform online. Dazaar connects the data will be stored in the distributed node operators.

Bitfinex claims the data is a huge part of our lives since we use the internet every day. But the information is being shared through a centralized medium. Instead of a centralized medium, there should be a decentralized platform that stores our information. Dazaar is a new and revolutionary alternative to a centralized server.

The information is transmitted through a peer-to-peer (P2P) decentralized system. That means the data transfer does not rely on a central server. When distributed nodes are used to store the data, it is possible to process the requests quickly as compared to a traditional server.

It will be easier to transmit, share, and access information without any hassle. The creators of this protocol believe it will make the internet to be open and accessible to everyone. Thus, data will be quickly scalable and accessible.

The motivation behind this invention was a regular usage of internet, messaging, social media platforms, and search engines to share numerous amounts of data every day. Dazaar is an extension to the Hypercore Protocol. But it is way more secure, can be scaled, and it works on a peer-to-peer network.

Another feature of Dazaar is the ability to monetize it. It can be used on any project to convert that into a highly scalable, secure, and decentralized one. The monetization can be applied to the protocol without the need of any intermediary. A simple layer of the time-based micro-payment of any cryptocurrency can be added to monetize the project on the go.

Bitfinex has provided a “Dazaar Card” to enable the buying and selling process between the two parties. This card is used to purchase data streams after identifying the buyer and seller. The protocol allows any credit card as well as cryptocurrency to purchase the streams.

To make the streaming of content flawless, Bitfinex has also introduced a desktop application. It provides live streaming of the media where sellers can manage subscriptions and live broadcasts.

Competitors Of Crypto Streaming Platform

Dazaar is not the only one crypto-based live streaming protocol. Many other companies are also competing in the race of crypto streaming. For example, Esports has launched its crypto-powered streaming app called Theta.tv. This app is being integrated into 75 million Samsung devices.

Theta.tv provides live streaming of sports events such as poker tournaments and more. This app rewards its users to watch live streaming in the form of tokens TFUEL. The price of Theta tokens surged up to more than 1000% since the launch of Theta 2.0.

The Esports streaming platform partnered up with a gaming platform Refereum. Now the rewards will also be available in the form of Tron (TRX) or BitTorrent (BTT) tokens. In a nutshell, the users will keep on increasing to watch live streams through this app.

Even in such fierce competition in the market, Dazaar makers are still optimistic to stand among its competitors. Bitfinex believes that they can provide a platform to its users that is secure and has an unbreakable privacy policy. Since the protocol is available to the public, it has the potential to introduce cryptocurrency to the unknowns.

Dazaar is also available without any restrictions or barrier. Because it can be used on any payment method within the cryptocurrency range. It is not limited to a specific project’s token to access payments. These additional features can be a gamechanger for Dazaar as well as the users who want to use crypto as a streaming protocol.

World’s Largest Pension Fund Lost the Equivalent of Bitcoin’s Entire Market Cap in Just Three Months

The world’s largest pension fund has lost nearly $164.7 billion within the first three months of 2020 and has suffered its worst full-year investment loss. The loss observed by GPIF is close to the entire market capitalization for Bitcoin. The Government Pension Investment Fund or GPIF of Japan has witnessed a decline of 11% in the first quarter, falling to $150.63 trillion. It is said to the steepest quarterly fall that it has seen since 2008 when the fund saw a 9.3 trillion yen loss and a -10.3% return during the financial year that ended in March 2009. 

The President of GPIF, Masataka Miyazono, announced that the domestic and foreign equities have resulted in the negative return in the first quarter of 2020. Overseas bonds were the only asset to give a positive return during this period giving a return of 3.55%. Even though the equity market performed extremely well in 2019 during the U.S. China negotiations, the global COVID-19 pandemic has led the investors to be more cautious.

GPIF is not the only stock to experience poor performance after the Coronavirus pandemic spread across the world. Other major stock indexes, such as Dow Jones, are also seeing the poor performance in the first quarter of 2020. But, what is surprising is that Bitcoin also saw a similar dip in performance where it fell by almost 11% in the first three months of 2020. In this case, it would not be safe to say that Bitcoin is a safe haven or the best investment opportunity, at least now. If GPIF had invested about 0.1% of its asset or $1.5 billion in BTC during the first quarter of 2020, it would have put a lot of buy pressure in the world market. The result would be a Bitcoin Bull Run and high returns for the pension fund’s portfolio belonging to the crypto segment. 

Even though the scenario may seem unlikely as pension funds are among the most conservative investors, most investment trusts in Japan has only a small portion of their funds in crypto assets, which includes BTC. They are apprehensive that cryptocurrencies are more speculative and have high price fluctuation and liquidity risks that they do not want to take. In addition, purchasing 208,000 BTC amounting to $1.5 billion would have been a Hercules task for the investors during that short period of time.  

The GPIF claims that the pension reserve fund is managed with a long-term perspective. They believe that the pandemic will only cause short term losses, and the investment is rather immune to volatility in the long term and will provide a positive return in the long term without any problem. With the improvement of the global economy and the domestic equity market, experts believe that the investment performance should return to normal, but it is yet to be seen. The GPIF annual return since it was created back in 2001 is 2.58%.