Cryptocurrency

Controversial Cambridge Analytica Had Crypto Ambitions ?

Cambridge Analytica, the data services firm at the epicenter of the recent public relations nightmare faced by Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), was looking to make a push into the world of digital currencies via an initial coin offering (ICO).

The company’s ICO effort was overseen by former CEO Alexander Nix, but Nix departed Cambridge Analytica last month amid the Facebook data controversy. Though shares of Facebook, the largest U.S. social media company, bounced back modestly this week, the stock is still down nearly 15 percent from its 52-week high, a decline caused in large part by the data-sharing controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica.

“Documents and emails obtained by The New York Times show that Cambridge Analytica’s efforts to help promote another group’s digital token, the Dragon Coin, associated the firm with a famous gangster in Macau who has gone by the nickname Broken Tooth,” reports The New York Times.

Last year, there were hundreds of ICOs with the 10 largest raising well over $1 billion on a combined basis. Year-to-date, there have been 183 ICOs, which have raised over $6 billion combined, according to Coinschedule.com. March saw the bulk of that activity with $2.94 billion raised.

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Not only was Cambridge Analytica looking to launch its own ICO, the company has actively looked for work with blockchain companies and other firms looking to launch their own digital tokens.

Jill Carlson, a blockchain consultant, “said the Cambridge Analytica employees had bragged about their success in helping get President Trump elected and their ability to carefully target advertising campaigns using data from social networks like Facebook,” according to the New York Times.

The employee in charge of the ICO business at Cambridge Analytica departed the firm in February. Year-to-date, Janauary has been the busiest month for ICO’s with 56. Month-to-date, April has seen 22 initial offerings for digital tokens.

CoinSchedule applies trust grades of “A” to “E” on ICOs with A being the highest and “E” being the worst. Most of the ICOs on the site have grades of C or lower.

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin Price Hits 8-Month High Close to $7K

There seems to be no stopping the bitcoin (BTC) freight train.

The leading cryptocurrency by market value jumped to $6,964 at 06:00 UTC today on Bitstamp, the highest level since Sept. 5, 2018, having found acceptance above the crucial 200-week moving average at $6,500 in early Asian trading hours.

Prices have set a new multi-month high for the fourth straight day and have rallied in excess of over 70 percent in the last 5.5-weeks.

Notably, with the sharp rally, the 100-day MA of bitcoin’s price has moved above the 200-day MA. That is the first bullish crossover between the two averages since July 2015.

The development further confirms the long-term bearish-to-bullish trend change signaled by several technical indicators, including a golden crossover, over the last few weeks.

The moving average studies, however, are lagging indicators and have limited predictive abilities, as they take old price history into account.

Even so, investors may take heart as a similar crossover in July 2015 was followed by a 2.5-year bull run.

Binance

Binance got hacked for $40 Million Dollars in Bitcoin, is your money safe?

The short answer is Yes, your money is safe.
Fortunately, Binance was prepared and your money is safe in due to SAFU. Meaning the ‘Secure Asset Fund for Users’ will cover this completely. This is the very reason Binance is self-insured.

Technically speaking the Binance exchange itself was not hacked, it has officially been stated by Binance that a large number of API Keys, 2FA Codes, and other user info was acquired by said hackers utilizing techniques such as phishing, viruses and other types of digital attacks. This means that it was user accounts that were compromised by the users themselves and not Binance.

In an age where digital security is more important than ever, this is a stark reminder to keep your data safe and secure at all times.

TLDR About the Binance Hack:

• 7000 BTC was stolen
• The BTC was stolen from Binance’s Hot Wallet
• Binance’s Hot Wallet holds only 2% of their total holdings
• All funds are insured and do not affect users

Bitcoin

Why Is Bitcoin Not Taking Off In 2019?

As you are likely referring to the price, Bitcoin is quite frankly doing what it has always done, as in go through a cycle. Right now it appears to be in the accumulation phase before it starts to climb and then vault higher than it was before.

If you take a look at this Bitcoin chart and go back to what happened in the run up to late 2013, it extremely similar to 2017, and then what happened directly after in 2014, 2015 and 2018, 2019 is quite similar.

We can see from the chart that there was a prior accumulation phase happening throughout 2015 and 2016 after the drop in 2014 subsequent to the spike in 2013. But this is dwarfed by the spike that happened in late 2017.

The other point to note is that Bitcoin is not unique when it comes to this cycle, it has happened before in many different markets. It’s just that Bitcoin is a new technology phenomenon that is following a very similar path. Of course we can never be certain as to how long the current phase will last, but when it’s done I suspect a lot of people will look back once again and wish they had accumulated during this phase.

Finally, whether it still has further to drop or not won’t really have any substantive bearing on the ultimate long term trajectory in our honest opinion.