Who Are the Richest Bitcoin Millionaires?

Curiosity about the identities of the richest Bitcoin millionaires rises every time the price of the digital currency jumps higher. Bitcoin millionairesThis year alone has brought staggering boosts in wealth for those Bitcoin owners. A person who owns 1,000 bitcoins becomes $100,000 wealthier every time the Bitcoin price goes up just $100. The price of Bitcoin has soared more than $1,500 higher this year.




 That means a Bitcoin millionaire holding 1,000 bitcoins has enjoyed a $1.5 million gain in less than six months. But Bitcoin millionaires aren't as common as you might think, given its huge gains. At the current Bitcoin price of about $2,500, a person needs 400 bitcoins to qualify as a Bitcoin millionaire. According to BitInfoCharts.com, just over 4,300 Bitcoin addresses hold 400 or more bitcoins. But since one person can have multiple Bitcoin addresses, the actual number of Bitcoin millionaires is certainly much lower than 4,300. Related: How to Buy Bitcoins – Your Guide to Digital Profits It's impossible to calculate the exact number of Bitcoin millionaires, or to even know how many bitcoins one person may own. 



The reason is that while all Bitcoin addresses are public, who owns them isn't. What we do know is that Bitcoin wealth is extremely concentrated. Almost two-thirds of all bitcoins are held in just 0.01% of the addresses (those containing 100 or more bitcoins). And an astonishing 89.4% of all bitcoins are held in 0.8% of the addresses (those containing 10 or more bitcoins). Bitcoin Amount % of Addresses (total) % of Bitcoins (Total) 0 – 0.001 58.08% (100%) 0.01% (100%) 0.001 – 0.01 17.16% (41.92%) 0.07% (99.99%) 0.01 – 0.1 14.9% (24.76%) 0.52% (99.91%) 0.1 – 1 6.62% (9.86%) 2.42% (99.39%) 1 – 10 2.44% (3.24%) 7.56% (96.97%) 10 – 100 0.7% (0.8%) 26.27% (89.41%) 100 – 1,000 0.09% (0.1%) 22.92% (63.15%) 1,000 – 10,000 0.01% (0.01%) 21.69% (40.23%) 10,000 – 100,000 0% (0%) 17.08% (18.54%) 100,000 – 1,000,000 0% (0%) 1.46% (1.46%) Of course, since these Bitcoin addresses aren't linked to the owner names, there's no way to create a comprehensive list of Bitcoin millionaires. Urgent: An incredibly rare gold anomaly is shaping up in the markets as we speak — one that has occurred ONLY twice in the past 20 years. 


And it's about to happen again. Find out more… On the other hand, we do know of a handful of prominent people who most definitely are Bitcoin millionaires… While we can't provide exact numbers, we know enough about this group to ballpark how much Bitcoin they own and what it's worth at today's prices…Bitcoin price Cameron and Tyler WinklevossEstimated bitcoins owned: 1.5 millionEstimated value at $2,500: $3.75 billion The Winklevoss twins gained fame when they sued Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing the idea for Facebook Inc. (NYSE: FB) from them. But in 2013, they used part of their $65 million settlement to buy 1.5 million bitcoins. That investment – valued at $11 million at the time by The New York Times — has increased more than 31,000% since then. The identical twins aren't just Bitcoin investors, though. They've also launched one of the leading Bitcoin exchanges, Gemini, and developed a proposal for a Bitcoin ETF (the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust) that was rejected by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March.price of Bitcoin Satoshi NakamotoEstimated bitcoins owned: 1 millionEstimated value at $2,500: $2.5 billion The mysterious creator of Bitcoin is believed to control about 1 million bitcoins, most of those mined in the earliest days of the cryptocurrency when only a handful of programmers were even aware it existed. Back then the block reward was 50 bitcoins, and the difficulty so low that you could mine plenty of Bitcoin with an average laptop. It's unclear if Nakamoto is a pseudonym for one person or a group of people, or where he/she/they may be now. But the bitcoins known to belong to Nakamoto have never been spent or transferred.



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Major Japanese Retailers to Start Accepting Bitcoin Payments Thanks to Legalization

Starting today, Bic Camera and Recruit Lifestyle will cooperate with bitcoin exchanges to add cryptocurrency payment option.

Just as Japan recognized bitcoin as a legal method of payment, two of the country’s biggest retailers, Bic Camera and Recruit Lifestyle, entered partnerships with bitcoin exchanges to start accepting the cryptocurrency.
Bic Camera is a consumer chain focused on electronics. It has entered an agreement with the Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange bitFlyer and will trial bitcoin in two outlets. Consumers will be allowed to pay up to 100,000 yen ($900) using bitcoin. The reward points will be the same as for cash payments.

According to Bic Camera, the new payment option is a first for a major retailer in the nation, out of the belief that the use of the virtual currency will become more common among domestic consumers. The initiative is expected to attract more foreign tourists to use bitcoin.
The cooperation between Recruit Lifestyle, the retail branch of human resources conglomerate Recruit Holdings, and Tokyo bitcoin exchange operator Coincheck will enable more than 260,000 outlets across the country to start accepting bitcoin. The payment option with the cryptocurrency will be included into AirRegi application. Coincheck will process payments made by consumers via the app, converting bitcoins into yen and transferring the funds to the store.

Japan has all chances to take a lead in the cryptocurrency market. Nearly 4,500 Japanese stores are currently accepting bitcoin while over 700,000 outlets actively use other modes of digital payments.
Last week, Japan realized the idea of recognition bitcoin as a mainstream currency as the country passed the law that categorizes the cryptocurrency as a legal payment option within the country. The highly-anticipated law was implemented on April 1, 2017.

The step is so beneficial for the cryptocurrency market as the more people will appreciate the new option and adopt the cryptocurrency, the more widespread Bitcoin will become, which will, in turn, drive demand and price. The legal recognition of Bitcoin in Japan at once resulted in the upward movement of bitcoin – at the beginning of the week the price made up $1,136.
The bitcoin usage in Japan is expected to reach $9 billion in the next three years (2020), which is more than five times the 2015’s $1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in circulation.
Kazuyuki Shiba, a Principal Economist at the Institute for International Monetary Affairs, said that China at one time accounted for more than 90 percent of bitcoin trading. Investors found the cryptocurrency so attractive as it allowed to avoid losses from a weakening yuan and the faking of transactions by Chinese exchanges to increase volume, making transactions on the exchanges more attractive.

Later, the situation changed when the Chinese monetary authority tightened its control over bitcoin exchanges, boosting the use of Japanese yen in trades.


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Bitcoin Price Skyrockets - Japan Bitcoin Payments Officially Recognized as Legal Currency!!

Japan Bitcoin payments are now official legal transactions in the Asian country, and that’s driving up the digital currency’s value.




Popular at online casino tables, the authorization of Japan Bitcoin currency is expected to increase the overall value of the digital asset. (Image: NewsBTC)
As of Monday at 12:01 local time, Japan’s Financial Services Agency announced that the decentralized virtual money would be recognized as legal tender. The implementation brings to a close months of debate in the National Diet, the government’s legislative branch, over whether Bitcoin should be acknowledged, regulated, and accepted in the Pacific Ocean island nation.

Critics who opposed the effort cited Bitcoin’s alleged widespread use by money launders and criminal organizations. Due to the currency’s anonymous nature, it’s virtually impossible to track and keeps tabs on.
Financial employees will need to undergo cryptocurrency training classes, and the government will force banking institutions engaging in Bitcoin exchanges to adhere to operational regulations, though specifics on what that might entail hasn’t been defined.
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Bitcoin has long been used by online gambling networks that wish to operate in countries where internet casinos aren’t necessarily legal.
Bitcoin Gambling
Online gamblers are no strangers to Bitcoin. The currency has been a preferred deposit and withdrawal method for numerous internet gambling sites, and remains so today.

In addition to offering more traditional banking methods, the leading offshore gambling sites like Slots.LV, Ignition Casino, and Bovada all accept Bitcoin. In addition to its incognito status, Bitcoin features some of the lowest transaction fees.
But Japan will need to quickly figure out a way to track Bitcoin, or at the very least be able to tell if it’s being used in unlawful ways. Its acceptance as permitted currency has the potential to wreak havoc on accounting departments, as money in and money out will be more difficult to track.
Bitcoin miners, which unlock the currency my solving complex mathematical problems in groups, have freed $17 billion worth of Bitcoin into circulation.
While that seems like a big number, it’s merely a drop in the bucket in terms of total worldwide money. According to estimates, there’s about 1.2 quadrillion ($1,200,000,000,000,000) invested in derivatives alone on planet Earth.
Bullish Bitcoin
The stock market has been hot since President Donald Trump won the White House, but it pales in comparison to the ride Bitcoin’s been on over the last two years.
In April of 2015, one Bitcoin was trading for about $240. This week, the same digital purchase costs over $1,100. That equates to a gain of nearly 360 percent. And with Japan Bitcoin essentially legalizing the tender, it’s expected to climb even higher.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ruled against Bitcoin due to its anonymous nature. The government regulatory agency says currencies must be “designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interests.” It argues Bitcoin doesn’t.
In a 2014 Investor Alert, the SEC stated, “Potential investors can be easily enticed with the promise of high returns in a new investment space and also may be less skeptical when assessing something novel, new and cutting-edge. Unlike traditional currencies, Bitcoin operates without central authority or banks and is not backed by any government.”

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Japan Bitcoin A Legal Currency !! Bitcoin Getting Strong Again !!

The price of bitcoin is regaining strength, with prices trading around $1150 at the time of writing, following the attainment of legal tender for cryptocurrencies in Japan, effective April 1. In the altcoin world, Litecoin and Ripple, two established incumbents, have flexed their muscles and displayed a significant increase in both volume and price.

In a major step forward for bitcoin adoption, Japan, the world's fourth-largest economy, has granted the cryptocurrency legal status as a method of payment. As highlighted by BTCManager, Japan will also operate a 'whitelist' of approved cryptocurrencies, likely to remain conservative and revolve around established altcoins such as ether. However, in wake of the news out of Japan, XEM, a popular altcoin in the country, has surged in value even against bitcoin.

Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP) both displayed an increase in value in excess of 100 percent at one point last week, accompanied by a huge influx of volume. Litecoin's price most likely jumped due to a combination of factors favorable to the altcoin; progress on SegWit, the introduction of margin trading at GDAX, as well as a potential collaboration with Tether.

Ripple's market capitalization jumped above $1 billion, heights only achieved by Bitcoin and Ethereum as it added new features to its network. The Ripple Consensus Ledger and Interledger Protocol can interact with each other, which is claimed to create a network that can interconnect all the world’s value on ledgers. Scalability- and performance-enhancing features were implemented March 31, namely Escrow and Payment Channels.
This week's review is compiled from contributions by Alexander Lielacher, Christoph Bergmann, Evan Sixtin, Jamie Holmes, Joseph Young, Michael Scott, Nigel Dollentas, and Nuno Menezes. 

Japan Officially Recognizes Bitcoin as Legal Payment Method
On December 17, local publications including the Japan Times revealed that the country’s Financial System Council proposed a bill which called for the recognition of bitcoin as a legal payment method and requires bitcoin exchanges to register with the country’s financial regulator the Financial Services Agency. According to a Fuji Chimera Research Institute study, roughly $1.7 billion of cryptocurrency was in circulation throughout Japan in 2015, and this number is expected to increase to nearly $9 billion by 2020, prompting the accommodative regulatory measure.
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Litecoin: Dark Horse in the Crypto Bull Market
With cryptocurrency in an overall bull run, it is not difficult for a trader or investor with a portfolio in cryptocurrency to make impressive gains. However, the biggest returns are being made in altcoins at the moment, with an increasing popularity in older, more established altcoins such as litecoin. As litecoin maintained being a dark horse of sorts, price appreciated once the amount of miners supporting SegWit approached majority; something bitcoin is still struggling with.


Has Bitcoin Become Illegal in India?
Is India on the brink of becoming the next China? Did the central bank make bitcoin illegal? Or legal? Or both? A newspaper reports that bitcoin has become illegal in India, but an Indian exchange denies this. A committee shall decide who is right. According to the Economic Times of India the Indian central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), pointed out that the use of virtual currencies like bitcoin is not authorized by the RBI and “could result in the breach of anti-money laundering provisions.” The RBI already warned users, holders, and traders of the risks that the use of bitcoin could result in.
Swedish Investment Firm Sidesteps Iran Sanctions with Bitcoin
Iran is one of the few countries that are being affected by sanctions made by the US government. Even for countries in Europe, it is challenging to trade and invest in Iran and the country’s local markets because of the financial barrier set by the US authorities and regulators. Therefore, companies like BNW need alternative channels or financial networks to transfer money to Iran with efficiency and a high level of security. Also, as BTCManager reported on January 31 that Iran had moved to dump US dollars, opening up a greater acceptance to cryptocurrency in the Islamic republic.
As Ethereum ‘Ice Age’ Approaches Community Votes on Mining Reward Cut
To prevent a hard fork that splits the Ethereum blockchain in two (for the second time), developers have implemented a difficulty time bomb also known as an ‘ice age.' The Ethereum ice age is a mining difficulty adjustment scheme that was created to incentivize miners to switch to the new PoS blockchain. Once the fork is executed, the mining difficulty rises exponentially to a point where it would be impossible for miners to keep up with the difficulty increase that would hike block time and make the blockchain effectively freeze. Hence, the term ‘ice age.'
Dogethereum: The Amalgamation of Two Popular Altcoins
Jason Teutsch and Christian Reitwießner have published their work detailing a protocol of how dogecoin will be received into the Ethereum network, known as TrueBit, in their whitepaper "A Scalable Verification Solution for Blockchains" The March 28 reddit post calls for help on the Dogecoin side so that "doge doesn't get locked up in Ethereum." In a nutshell, TrueBit is basically an Ethereum smart contract with a sole purpose in Dogethereum is to allow Ethereum to check Dogecoin's Scrypt proof-of-work, which is something that current Ethereum smart contracts cannot do.
ShapeShift Raises $10.4 Million For New 2017 Products
Switzerland-based ShapeShift AG, owner of ShapeShift.io (instant digital asset exchange) and Coincap.io (real-time digital asset data), has raised $10.4 million in Series A funding for future expansion. Specifically mentioned were two new "mysterious" exchange-related products which will be coming out before the end of 2017.
IBM Partners with Natixis and Trafigura, Introduce First Blockchain Solution for U.S. Crude Oil Market
IBM announced a partnership with Natixis and Trafigura to introduce the first blockchain development for commodity trade finance for US crude oil transactions. The March 28 announcement marks the beginning of the institutional use of the blockchain technology. The trading industry is today mostly driven by manual, non-digital processes, so this initiative comes as part of a plan to start modernizing trading in the global crude oil industry.

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Japan And Bitcoin Are Good Friends

While bitcoin has recently suffered some defeats in the U.S. at the hands of the SEC, not all news has been bad news. In a major move for bitcoin legitimacy, Japan has recognized bitcoin as a legal payment method on April 1. (And no, it wasn’t an April Fool’s prank.)

As part of the new law that has “legalized” bitcoin in Japan, the nation’s Financial Services Agency has put capital requirements, along with cybersecurity and operational stipulations, in place for bitcoin exchange, said CoinDesk. Additionally, bitcoin exchanges in Japan will now be required to conduct employee training programs and submit to annual audits.


With this news, the price of bitcoin broke out of its slump post-SEC denial amid growing fears of a hard fork, rallying to rise over $100 in the first three days of April. At the time of writing, one bitcoin was worth $1,135.07, up 3.30 percent from Sunday’s close.
Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied the second bitcoin-based ETF bid up for consideration — the Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.’s NYSE Arca exchange’s request to list and trade the SolidX Bitcoin Trust. Once again, lack of oversight, regulation and the potential for fraud in the broader bitcoin space worked against the proposed ETF.
The government of Japan’s move to legalize and regulate bitcoin could set a precedent internationally among nations looking to work digital currency regulation into their respective legal and financial systems.
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Switzerland has become a highly bitcoin-friendly nation as of late, with FINMA’s plans to clarify regulation, railway ticketing systems’ recent adoption of bitcoin ATM functionality and Ernst & Young’s Switzerland office adding a publicly accessible bitcoin ATM. Additionally, the government of Australia set out to create accounting standards for bitcoin in November of last year, said CoinDesk.
In the U.S., the SEC still sits on one remaining bitcoin ETF proposal, though given the outcomes for the prior two, things look grim for the viability of Grayscale Investments LLC’s Bitcoin Investment Trust.

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Indian Bitcoin Community Signs Petition Demanding Legal Status for Cryptocurrencies

The Indian cryptocurrency ecosystem recently woke up to a shocking news on leading media outlets. It was reported that the use of Bitcoin in the country is illegal and could attract penalties under anti-money laundering laws. However, the report was not entirely accurate, and the news platforms were quoting a Member of Parliament seeking the implementation of cryptocurrency regulations by calling Bitcoin a “Ponzi scheme”.

While the confusion was eventually cleared, the incident has sown the seeds of mistrust about the government’s stance on the digital currency. Going by the example of few drastic decisions taken by the government in the past, they have come together to demand some clarity from the government regarding its stance on cryptocurrency. They have started an online signature campaign, petitioning the government to award a legal status for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the country.

The petition is probably the first strong public campaign organized by the recently formed Digital Asset and Blockchain Foundation of India. Addressed to Arun Jaitley — India’s Finance Minister, Urjit Patel – Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and S Selvakumar – the Joint Secretary of the Department of Economics Affairs Room, the petition makes a mention of various benefits offered by Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and how it can be used for the betterment of the country. Also, it asks the government to take steps towards stopping bad actors who misuse the cryptocurrency than banning the technology and its use.
The petition on Change.org also says,
“Cryptocurrencies will be available irrespective and the illegal users do not care about its legal status. Please do not take hasty steps and prevent innovation, economic activity and jobs. This will only stop good uses of cryptocurrencies.”

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In a country which has a considerable percentage of the unbanked population and ranks at the top for receiving the highest remittance, Bitcoin can offer an efficient and inexpensive solution. The use of cryptocurrencies and their underlying technology will not only speed up the financial services sector but also a range of other industries. With the adoption of distributed ledger technology, the government can also combat rampant corruption and red tape. But strict cryptocurrency regulations will stifle progress in this regard, preventing the country from keeping up with the global trend.

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Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

In 2009, he published the first Bitcoin client and communicated with the Bitcoin community by the end of 2010. Then he disappeared without a trace.
He initially worked with an open source team on the project and always put great value on not disclosing any personal data. In the spring of 2011 he heard about him when he said, “I will devote myself to other things.”

Was he Japanese?
You should not judge a book by its title, or do you?
“Satoshi” means “clear-minded”; “Naka” could mean “inside or relationship”; “Moto” means “origin or foundation”.
All these things fit the person who created a movement and created an ingenious algorithm. The problem is that each single word can have several meanings.


So we can not say for sure whether Satoshi Nakamoto is a Japanese. It only suggests that Satoshi is a “he”.
For the sake of simplicity, we will call Satoshi Nakamoto as “him,” even though he may have been one, one or more persons.
Does anyone know who Satoshi Nakamoto was?
No, but the criminal techniques people use these days often raise more questions than answers. The New Yorker Joshua Davis believes Satoshi Nakamoto is a cryptography student of Dublin Trinity College, named Michael Clear.
To his conclusion he came by an analysis of all Nakamoto letters containing more than 80,000 words. Here he searched for linguistic references. He also suspected the Finnish economic sociologist and former game developer Vili Lehdonvirta.

Both said they were not the inventors of Bitcoin. In a Web Summit in 2013, Michael Clear even reported publicly that he was not Satoshi Nakamoto.
Adam Penenberg of FastCompany denied the assumption and said that Satoshi Nakamoto is a group of three people: Neal King, Vladimir Oksman, and Charles Bry. He found out about this by stating different phrases from the published Whitepaper at Google to see if these word phrases had been found somewhere before.
It turned out later that one of the three was mentioned in a patent application for the update and distribution of cryptic keys. The Bitcoin.org domain that Satoshi Nakamoto used to publish the Whitepapers was registered and secured only 3 days after the patent application.
The domain was registered in Finland and one of the patent applicants traveled to the country 6 months earlier. All three suspects deny Satoshi Nakamoto.
In any case, the Bitcoin.org domain was registered on August 18, 2008 by an anonymous Japanese service provider and a Japanese ISP. After that, the domain has only been transferred to Finland. This weakened the theory of Finland a little.
Again, other tongues claim that the inventor of Bitcoin could also be Martii Malmi. Martii lives in Finland and has been involved in the development since the birth of Bitcoin.
Jed McCaleb also belongs to the circle of the elect. He is a lover of Japanese culture and lives in Japan. He is the founder of the controversial Bitcoin stock exchange, Mt. Gox, and co-founder of the decentralized payment systems Ripple and Stellar.
There are a variety of other potential Satoshi Nakamotos, including Donal O’Mahony, Michael Peirce, Professor Shinichi Mochizuki and Dorian S Nakamoto. All of them dispute the inventors of an ingenious invention. In the Bitcoin community there is still great uncertainty about the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. In the Bitcoin trading community there is still great uncertainty about the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto.
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What do we know about Satoshi Nakamoto?
One thing we know: Based on interviews with fellow travelers of Satoshi Nakamoto in the early hours of birth of Bitcoin, he is supposed to have meticulously thought through the system.
According to Jeff Garzik, his encodings did not carry the handwriting of a conventional software engineer.How rich is he?
According to an analysis by the bitcoiner Sergio Lerner, Satoshi Nakamoto is said to have scavenged many of the first blocks in the Bitcoin network: about 1 million bitscoins. At the then rate in November 2013, more than USD 1 billion.
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What is Satoshi Nakamoto doing now?
Nobody knows. But from his last email of April 23, 2011, it is clear:
“I will now devote myself to other things. It’s all in good hands at Gavin & Co. “

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Russian Exchange Platform MaRSe Now Supports DASH, BitPanda Follows

DASH, the fastest growing cryptocurrency has expanded its footprint by getting listed on the leading Russian cryptocurrency exchange service, MaRSe. With this inclusion, the offline cryptocurrency exchange now supports both Bitcoin and DASH.

The third largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, DASH announced its partnership with MaRSe and another European exchange BitPanda in its recent press release. Following few recent technological breakthroughs and expansion initiatives, the cryptocurrency has gained traction across the community. It has resulted in an eight-fold increase in the price since the beginning of 2017 — rising from $11.21 to $90.40.
The platform’s partnerships make DASH even more easily accessible, further driving adoption and trade volumes. The Vice President of Business Development at DASH Daniel Diaz was quoted in the press release saying,
“We are very excited about Dash being added to BitPanda and to MaRSe. We are focused on improving access to Dash for users across the planet and it’s exciting to see spikes in demand from places like Europe and Russia. Firstly, BitPanda is the type of high quality broker we need on the Dash ecosystem; they offer multiple payment options as well as Bitcoin and Ethereum integration so it’s huge news for European users. Secondly, MaRSe is the largest and most reputable Russian exchange for bitcoin and now Dash, so we expect trading volumes to increase.”

The European BitPanda exchange formerly known as Coinimal has a broad reach and offers a range of payment options for its users. The platform has included DASH following an increased demand for the cryptocurrency among its user base, allowing them to make an instant purchase by paying with VISA/MasterCard powered credit cards, Sofort, SEPA, Neteller, Skrill or EPS/GiroPay. Meanwhile, those in Moscow can now walk into MaRSe outlet and trade DASH for Rubles or vice versa.
The year so far has been eventful for DASH, as it has entered into lots of strategic partnerships with leading cryptocurrency platforms like Bitfinex, BlockPay, Bitsane and more. Online crypto-wallet service FreeWallet and a leading hardware wallet company KeepKey have also extended their support to DASH. The latest Sentinel upgrade, paving the way for the upcoming Project Evolution that aims to present DASH as a go-to cryptocurrency payments system has pushed the cryptocurrency to the limelight. If the current pace of development is any indication, then DASH stands to make a lot of progress in the coming months, eventually commanding a much stronger position in the crypto-market.




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Bitcoin Exchange BitPrime Is Open For Business In New Zealand

It is good to see New Zealand is once again getting a bitcoin exchange platform. BitPrime plans to become a household name in the country over the next few years. The company provides a compelling service that allows users to buy and sell bitcoin without friction. It is evident the people who run BitPrime are very passionate about bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and it will be interesting to see how this company fares in New Zealand.
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Buying and selling bitcoin in New Zealand has not always been that easy. For a few years, cryptocurrency enthusiasts could make use of the BitNZ platform, although that company was forced to shut down after banking issues earlier this year. New Zealand is not the only region where banks want little or nothing to do with bitcoin as a whole, even if it hinders the growth of successful businesses.
BitPrime aims to bring bitcoin to mainstream consumers and companies once again. As of March 28th, the company is open for business and allows anyone to buy and sell bitcoin without friction. Moreover, the company focuses on making this process as straightforward as possible. BitPrime makes use of a third-party escrow service to ensure all clients’ funds is safe and secure at all times. Using such an escrow service is quite unique among bitcoin exchanges, that much is certain.
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What is even more intriguing is how BitPrime’s third-party escrow provider is none other than LocalBitcoins. This peer-to-peer trading platform has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years. All of the bitcoin being bought or sold will be held by LB until the payment is complete. Users can use bank transfers and cash deposits for their bitcoin needs. In a way, this makes BitPrime look more like a broker than an actual exchange, although it also means the company itself will not need to deal with liquidity.
It is evident New Zealand can become a big hub for bitcoin in the future. Similarly to other countries, the national banking system suffers from low interest rates. Investors are trying to diversify their portfolio whenever they can, and bitcoin plays a big role in the process. After all, the popular cryptocurrency can provide better yearly returns compared to savings accounts or any other type of traditional asset. There are plenty of opportunities abound where bitcoin is concerned, that much is certain.


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Ledger Grabs $7 Million For Its Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallets

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Things are going incredibly well for Ledger these days. People find bitcoins, ethers and other cryptocurrencies exciting again. And the French startup just raised a $7 million Series A round to make hardware security devices ubiquitous.
MAIF Avenir, XAnge, Wicklow Capital, GDTRE, Libertus Capital, Digital Currency Group, The Whittemore Collection, Kima Ventures, BHB Network and Nicolas Pinto participated in today’s funding round.
If you’ve been following cryptocurrencies for a while, you know that you shouldn’t trust bitcoin and ethereum startups that centralize everything. There have been many hacks, there will be more hacks. And you don’t want to trust some startup’s security team when you can do it yourself.
Sure, you can run your own bitcoin wallet on your computer. But hackers could still access your computer and your bitcoin wallet, so it’s still a point of failure.
Ledger makes hardware wallets for multiple currencies. These tiny devices have a secure element. You might not even realize it, but your smartphone also has a secure element to handle fingerprint readers or NFC payments, such as Apple Pay or Android Pay.
Ledger runs some tasks directly on the secure element, making it much more secure than running an app on your phone or your computer exclusively. This way, you can easily protect your bitcoins without a lot of security knowledge. Nobody can access the private keys on the device. And the device constantly checks the integrity of the firmware.

The company also makes sure that nobody can compromise the device during the manufacturing process. “When we manufacture the devices, all chips receive a Ledger certificate,” co-founder and CEO Eric Larchevêque told me. “When the device boots up, the computer sends a security challenge and the device answers.”
The Ledger Nano S is the company’s most popular device. It’s the size of a USB key and has a tiny display. After initiating a transaction from your computer, you’ll have to confirm the transaction on the device itself and enter your PIN code. This way, even if your computer has been compromised, the transaction order won’t go through on the device and you won’t be able to confirm the transaction.

The company also makes a high-end device with a built-in touch screen called the Ledger Blue. The Ledger Nano S costs around €70 while the Blue costs €275.
Ledger has sold more than 50,000 wallets so far, and the last few months have beat the company’s expectations by a wide margin. But cryptocurrency wallets are just the first step.
By running a secure operating system on a secure element, there are other potential applications. For instance, Ledger could sell chips so that companies working in sensitive industries can make sure their servers weren’t compromised. You can imagine hedge funds and financial institutions using Ledger products. Energy suppliers could also use Ledger’s technology to make sure that the consumption level is legit. That’s why the company is raising money to go beyond hardware wallets and find those industrial clients.


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