David Van de Walle

Mar 20 2017

Margin Trading Comes to Coinbase through GDAX

Fortune is reporting that margin trading has arrived at Coinbase. You can see the full article here, but suffice it to say the key differentiator for Coinbase’s GDAX trading platform is the one thing that the firm hopes gets it adopted by the big traders: regulatory compliance.

Bitcoin is the future, and it doesn’t actually look like this

GDAX accomplishes this in the form of state licensure, which is normally the first thing that “whales” want to see before plunking down all sorts of money. Or even any sort of money.

Note that margin trading already exists on two of the largest US-based platforms: Kraken and Poloniex. (Kraken appears to have added trading in Monero recently; you can read more about Monero, or XMR, elsewhere on this site.) Other sites have margin accounts available – but sites, as you’d imagine, are scattered around the globe.

And that’s the point of crypto and, perhaps, where the big ol’ dose of irony comes in: in order to become legitimate in the eyes of the mainstream, you have to do some legitimate things – like state licensure. But you can’t maintain that decentralized awesomeness that you’ve come to expect from Bitcoin and altcoins if you’re too tightly regulated. Or if the big banks start getting involved – since their involvement always finds regulatory involvement trailing closely behind.

In any event, feel free to check out the info on the Fortune article and on Coinbase’s GDAX.

And if you want to get started with Coinbase, here’s our handy-dandy affiliate link. (DISCLOSURE: if you make a qualifying Bitcoin purchase, we’ll get some Bitcoin as a result.)

Mar 19 2017

Coin of the Week: Monero (XMR)

We’re starting a new feature on the site, called “Coin of the Week.” Each week, we’ll take an in-depth look at a coin that you may not know about. This week, we’re studying Monero.

Monero

Monero is just about three years old – so it’s not brand-new, but it’s not ancient, either. Right off the bat, Monero wants you to know what it stands for, and you can see that plain as day on the front of the website: “Secure, Private, Untraceable.”

Beyond those three words, the other big thing about Monero is that it’s not based on Bitcoin’s code.

Security, Privacy, and…

Monero says its privacy protocol is based on a “cryptographically sound system that allows you to send and receive funds without your transaction being publicly visible on the blockchain.”

Their peer-to-peer consensus network keeps things secure, and their use of “ring signatures” keeps things, according to their own webpage, “untraceable.”

More Basics

As of this writing, Monero has a market cap of around $341m, and its supply is just north of 14 million units. The plan is for the emission curve to issue a total of 18.4 million coins in its first six years, then leveling off to an annual inflation rate of less than one percent per year, with no cap on number of coins.

Its current market cap ranks it as 4th largest in the world, with exponential growth during 2016 – thanks in part to its adoption by darknet markets during the past year.

Trading and Investing

Trading under the symbol XMR, the chatter around Monero over the past couple weeks centers around “FOMO” – whether or not the big, recent highs are driving investors into the platform just because Monero might be the next big thing.

XMR is traded as a pair with the US Dollar (USDT) on Poloniex.

*All stats current as of March 19, 2017.

Mar 15 2017

5 Things to Watch During the Tournament

To celebrate the launch of this site, we’ve decided to combine Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, altcoins, and the whole blockchain thing with something we know you love, too: basketball.

You’ll be multi-tasking and so will we. So here are 5 things to watch during the tournament.

1. When will people stop talking about the Bitcoin ETF?

Here’s an answer to that question: not for a long time. Especially when you have the Twin Towers, er Winkelvoss brothers, front-and-center in the question about the ETF.

For a primer on the ETF we’re talking about, and what happened with the SEC, here’s a great piece from the New York Times.

Our gut tells us that discussion won’t stop until there actually is an ETF.

Maybe a better question: what shape or form will an eventual Bitcoin ETF take? For instance, will it just be Bitcoin, or will in include some of the other cryptocurrencies – especially ones with the support of the banking community, like Ethereum?

2. What’s going on – really – with Dash?

We took a screenshot on the morning of March 15; this is while watching everyone on the Poloniex “trollbox” tell us to “beware the ides of March.” Dash was thisclose to hitting $100 (USD) when we took the screener, and it ended up surpassing that level, getting into the fever territory of 101 or so, and staying right around the double/triple-digit line most of the a.m.

Was it more of a psychological barrier, that $100-per-coin level, than anything? (This would make sense – think about how the bulk of trades are placed on the various platforms, and realize that the US Dollar is often not in the equation at all.) Can the volume continue apace, or is it more likely to fall back lower in the top five?

And what about the fundamentals? Are there really any fundamentals for a coin that, a few months ago, could be had for roughly one-EIGHTH of its current price?

Also of note: each time Poloniex chatter said “short squeeze coming” or “watch out for the bear trap,” up the price seemed to go.

3. Speaking of Dash…when will it, or any other altcoins, get added to Coinbase?

If you go by the “buy the rumor, sell the news” theory, then maybe that’s why a lot of folks bought Dash and ran the price up. Of course, you could ask that about a whole host of other coins, too: why do we hear rumors that Coinbase will add more but, as of this writing, they’re still stuck on just two. (Bitcoin and Ethereum. And hey, here’s a great time to say “join Coinbase, buy some Bitcoin using this link, and maybe we both get a benefit?”) (THAT’S AN AFFILIATE LINK. Just so we’re painfully obvious.)

Coinbase is great in that it’s a wallet and integrates with your traditional bank accounts. But it’s still limited. So we’re waiting for more.

4. About that Ethereum you mentioned…

That doesn’t sound like a question, more like a comment. Did you mean to ask about the fact that it crossed over a threshold of its own, the $2B (US) market cap one? (CNBC talks about it on their site.)

Or are you asking why it’s not getting the love in this article – because, after all, it TOO rose to new heights today?

These are good questions – thanks for asking – and yeah, it does seem like Ethereum is on a roll, and it is ignored a little bit. Really, it shouldn’t be: when you talk about market cap, it still exceeds that of Dash by a 4-to-1 margin. So you might want to watch its price while you’re chowing on wings.

5. What sleeper altcoins should I be looking at?

Right, because during the tournament, everyone wants that sleeper pick – but not everyone wants the same sleeper pick, because then everyone bets on it and it doesn’t become a sleeper.

We’ll let you do your own research, but here are a couple places to look:

First of all, in addition to Coindesk, we recommend Coin Telegraph for news on Bitcoin, altcoins, and the world of the blockchain.

Or, if you want to get in really early on ICOs – “Initial Coin Offerings” – visit the Smith and Crown site and do some further investigating.

If you liked this, stay tuned for more content. Or if you’re feeling really crazy, send us some Bitcoin. Our address follows:

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