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Huobi Sends BTC and LTC to Wrong Accounts

Huobi, one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges in China, recently revealed their mistake of sending a $400,000 worth of Bitcoin and Litecoin to wrong accounts. The exchange however also informed a successful recovery of those 920 BTC and 8100 LTC. The digital money was erroneously sent to over 27 accounts. On this week’s Wednesday, Huobi’s security department received a warning that prompted the temporary suspension of those withdrawals. After an investigation, customers who received the coins by-mistakenly returned them peacefully. Huobi apologized later for the entire event.

Coinify Receives Multimillion Dollar Investment

The Danish-based exchange and payment processing company Coinify informed its followers about the recent multimillion dollar investment it received by a local company, Seed Capital. This additional investment has indeed brought Coinify among the top digital currency companies in Europe. Furthermore, the exchange is already providing services to over 6000 merchants and 7000 consumers. Richard Breiter, Seed Capital’s investment manager, said:

“The internet protocol revolutionized the way we communicate, and the Bitcoin protocol can revolutionize the way we transfer unique digital assets from one internet user to another. Potentially all transactions could in the future be done in virtual currencies. That is a development we have to be a part of, and at SEED Capital we are comfortable being at the forefront of technological development.”

OKCoin Surpasses Competitors in Bitcoin Volume

The internationally-renowned Chinese Bitcoin exchange OKCoin recently went ahead of its competitors in terms of Bitcoin volume. The exchange carried our transactions, nearly worth 16,000 BTC while its nearby competitors like BitStamp and BitFines managed to make only 14,700 BTC and 15,000 BTC, respectively.


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NYDFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky to Present his Views at Money 20/20 Conference

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Sep 27, 2014 12:24AM BST




According to an announcement, New York State Department of Financial Services or NYDFS superintendent Benjamin Lawsky is going to deliver a keynote speech at Money20/20. This is the world’s largest event for payments and financial services innovation and attracts stalwarts from around the world to give their presentations.

According to the organizers of Money 20/20 say that the event will explore every aspect of how individuals and businesses manage, spend and borrow money as these are all undergoing a fundamental and transformational shift recently. The expert speakers are going to present their views on the way businesses are being transformed by the new technologies.

What is Money 20/20?

The official website of Money 20/20 says that the speakers are going to explore the factors that have been prompting changes in payments and financial services. According to them a lot has been due to disruptive innovations in commerce at the intersection of key macro trends that include mobile, retail, marketing services, data and technology.

The organizers of the event say that many companies select Money20/20 as the venue for noteworthy announcements, and to showcase their solutions against the backdrop of a high quality attendee profile at an opportune time of year. According to them Money20/20 attendees are going to benefit from rich and in-person interactions.

A lot of events take place in five days; for instance, it witnesses keynotes, panels, case studies, research, demos, exhibits and networking opportunities, etc. The part which is going to be played at the event by Lawsky will be focused on BitcoinWorld section and will be one of the star speakers on the subject of cryptocurrencies.
Benjamin Lawsky Has Emerged as a Leading Voice in Bitcoin Regulation

In their official announcement the organizers of Money20/20 say that they are big supporters of cryptocurrencies and their underlying distributed payment protocols and that is the reason they have invited Lawsky who recently came to news after he brought in specific guidelines to regulate the digital currency.

Lawsky has become a prominent figure in the world of Bitcoin regulation and considered one of the leading advocates who want to bring the digital currency into the fold of regulation. His organization the NYDFS announced it would hold hearings on Bitcoin and which were held earlier this year in January as well to come to some conclusion in the later part of the year.


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Last week was a relatively light one, with few key*fundamental releases, including the final version of Q2 GDP, which improved upon the initial estimates, with a print of 4.6% on the year. This week will be much heavier in terms of the number and significance of economic releases. Let’s take a look at the key ones we can expect to shake up the currency markets.

Monday (9/29)

German Preliminary CPI m/m (September)
Forecast: -0.1%
Previous 0.0%



After a couple of months of positive inflation in June and July, August showed a flat rate. If September’s inflation rate falls below 0.0%, the ECB will continue to be pressured to implement more stimulus measures.

US Pending Home Sales m/m (August)
Forecast: -0.4%
Previous: 3.3%

Tuesday (9/30)

UK Final GDP q/q (Q2)
Forecast: 0.8%
Previous: 0.8%

Eurozone CPI Flash Estimate y/y (September)
Forecast: 0.3%
Previous 0.3%



If Eurozone inflation can’t hold at or above 0.3%, the euro might remain pressured due to increasing expectation of more stimulus measures by the ECB, who meets on Thursday (10/2)

Eurozone Unemployment Rate (August)
Forecast: 11.5%
Previous: 11.5%

CAN: GDP m/m (July)
Forecast: 0.2%
Previous 0.3%



GDP data for *Canada has been volatile this year, and the CAD is currently pressured. The loonie is a commodity currency and we can attribute part of its decline to its correlation of an asset that has been falling sharply in the past couple of months. A strong GDP above 0.3% can help the CAD find support.

Conference Board Consumer Confidence (September)
Forecast: 92.2
Previous 92.4

AUS Retail Sales m/m (August)
Forecast: 0.4%
Previous 0.4%

Wednesday (10/1)

UK Manufacturing PMI (September)
Forecast: 52.6
Previous 52.5



UK Manufacturing PMI has been sliding, though it remains in expansion. If it continues to fall, we can see the resilience of GBP give way to stronger currencies such as the USD.

US ADP Non-Farm Employment Change
Forecast: 206K
Previous: 204K

US ISM Manufacturing PMI
Forecast: 58.6
Previous: 59.0

Thursday (10/2)

ECB Monetary Policy Decision
Forecast: Maintain minimum bid rate at 0.05%
The market will be keen on how the ECB assesses its stimulus measures from the previous couple of meetings, and whether more stimulus like Quantitative Easing (QE), is being considered. If the market believes there is a real chance of QE, the EUR can continue to fall.

US Jobless Claims (weekly)
Forecast: 299K
Previous 293K

Friday (10/3)

UK Services PMI (September)
Forecast: 59.1
Previous: 60.5

US Non-Farm Payroll Change (September)
Forecast: 216K
Previous 142K



US Unemployment Rate (September)
Forecast: 6.1%
Previous 6.1%

ISM Services PMI (September)
Forecast: 58.5
Previous: 59.6

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GBP/JPY is trading in a mini-triangle since the 9/23 session. As we begin a new week (9/29), price is right in the middle of this coiling, consolidation pattern, as shown in the 1H chart below:

GBP/JPY 1H Chart 9/29


Note the 200-, 100-, and 50-hour simple moving averages (SMAs) converging. This reflects the sideways direction of the market after a rally.

Bullish breakout scenario:
Now because the prevailing trend is bullish, let’s examine the bullish breakout scenario. A break above 178.20 will likely take GBP/JPY above the triangle and signal a bullish continuation outlook. If the RSI pushes above 70, that would be an even stronger sign that the pair is ready to take off. The 178.73 high would be the immediate, near-term target and resistance. Now if we get a pullback after the triangle breakout, a bullish market should find support around 178.0. A break below 177.50 at that point would not only invalidate the bullish outlook but introduce a bearish correction outlook.*

GBP/JPY 4H Chart 9/29


Bearish correction scenario:
In the 4H chart, we can reduce the recent consolidation essentially to a range between 176.64 and 178.73. Now if price falls below 177.50, the focus will first be toward the 176.64 low, with downside risk toward the 174.65-175.00 area, near which the 100-period SMA resides in the 4H chart. We would also be near a previous resistance around 174.65, which could also provide support in a bullish market. Note that the 50% fibonacci retracement level is at 175.02.
The last line of defense for the bullish continuation outlook is in the 173.68-174 area. Here we have a previous*resistance in early September, the 200-period SMA in the 4H chart, and the 61.8% retracement level.

Bullish continuation bias:
We should note that in the 4H chart, the moving averages and price action reflect a bullish market, and the RSI also reflects maintenance of the bullish momentum since the rally to and retreat from 180.74. A break above 178.73 thus opens up the 180.70 high with implication of a possible break into new highs on the year above that.


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AUDUSD may be in for a quick bounce, as price is already stalling at a long-term support zone visible on this daily chart. Price is finding support at the previous year lows of .8700, with stochastic giving the oversold signal.

A bounce could take price up to the nearby area of interest around the .8800 major psychological level. A higher rally could lead to a test of the .9000 major psychological resistance if buying momentum is sustained.

AUDUSD Forecast

However, fundamentals and risk sentiment don’t appear to be favoring the Australian dollar at the moment. Recent geopolitical risk in Hong Kong could keep weighing on AUDUSD as this also affects China, Australia’s largest trade partner. Apart from that, higher-yielding commodity currencies typically lose ground when risk is off.

The latest Chinese HSBC manufacturing PMI for September was downgraded from 50.5 to 50.2, indicating that industry expansion was weaker than initially reported. This could lead to more losses for AUDUSD and perhaps a downside break from .8700. In this case, the pair might be in for more losses as the dollar continues to advance.

Data from the US include the Chicago PMI and CB consumer confidence today, both of which are set to print declines. However, stronger than expected data might lead to an extended dollar rally. Profit-taking at the end of this month and quarter might also come into play, leading to short-term losses for the US dollar.

A selloff for AUDUSD could take price down to .8500 or lower, with sentiment strongly favoring the US dollar as the Fed moves closer to implementing its exit strategy and hiking interest rates. The RBA, on the other hand, remains concerned about a housing bubble and isn’t likely to adjust monetary policy anytime soon.

With that, the path of least resistance for AUDUSD is to the downside, spurred by both fundamental and market risk factors.


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GBP/USD Being Resilient
The Pound has been more resilient against the Greenback than other major currencies have been, such as the Euro,*the Aussie, and Japanese Yen.*After an early September low of 1.6061, GBP/USD*has been consolidating, coming up to 1.65 before retreating again.

GBP/USD 4H Chart 10/2


Still Bearish
When we look at the 4H chart, we can see that for the most part the market is still bearish. Price held below the 200-period simple moving average (SMA), and now price is back below the 100-, and 50-period SMAs as well.

Some Bullish Signs and a Falling Wedge:
However, we also see that the 4H RSI tagged 80, which showed strong bullish momentum. While the pair is not maintaining this bullish momentum well, with the 4H RSI breaking below 40, GBP/USD has not revived the bearish momentum, which would be the case if the 4H RSI dipped below 30.
Furthermore, price seems to be finding support around 1.6162, a support pivot on 9/15. What will turn GBP/USD bullish?
A break above 1.6250 should be an early signal that GBP/USD is shifting from bearish mode to at least a sideways mode if not a bullish one. Above 1.6250, cable would break above a falling wedge pattern, which would signal a bullish outlook in the short-term. Then if it breaks above 1.63, and the 4H RSI pushes back above 60, the market should have the high around 1.65 in sight.

Let’s take a look at the weekly chart to get some perspective:

GBP/USD Weekly Chart


Bullish Bias since 2013:
When we look at the weekly chart, we can see that the market since mid-2013 can still be considered bullish, although the momentum was lost as the weekly RSI dipped below 40. Still, price is holding above the 200-, and 100-week SMAs. Also, price is still above the 50% retracement level, which is at about 1.60.
We should also consider the shift from strong bearish weekly candles to tentative ones to be a sign that GBP/USD already shifted from bearish to neutral in the medium-term, so in the long-term, it is neutral-bullish.
Since cable is already shifting away from its bearish mode, if we see the USD give back its gains, GBP/USD might shift back into the bullish mode.


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PayStand to Open API to Support Payment with Credit Cards, e-Checks and Bitcoin

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Oct 2, 2014 10:27PM BST




PayStand, an e-commerce gateway for alternative and traditional forms of payment, announces that is bringing up its API (Application Programming Interface) which according to it supports payments with credit cards, e-checks and Bitcoin. The company says that the API will allow developers of mobile and e-commerce sites to “re-imagine financial systems.”

Jeremy Almond, co-founder and CEO of PayStand believes that developers can access tool sets from traditional players pretty easily; however, may not be so much for alternative forms of payment. He added that more and more developers are flocking to the e-check rails and developers are building new billing, invoicing and payroll type services.

The company which was formed the last year has been running pilots with developers all summer wherein it built apps on top of its API to support different payment networks and types. With all these applications the company aims to make payments more efficient and cheaper for merchants.

PayStand believes that digital checks have been a ripe space for startups to innovate in as according to it the big technology companies such as Amazon, Apple and PayPal work on their own mobile wallets. Also, it believes that billions of dollars gets sent via check still, especially in business-to-business payments and for that reason a lot of scope for its app.
Moreover, as businesses with large invoices don’t want to accept a credit card because of the transaction fees, Almond says that with a 3% interchange fee, the recipient would be charged $300 on a $10,000 payment. However, when it is compared with fees for an e-check or automated clearinghouse (ACH) payment it is higher.

No Transaction Fees

Almond believes that as virtual-currency technology is also getting traction in the mainstream financial market, PayStand is seeing both enterprise and loyalty companies building on top of Bitcoin’s Blockchain system. Currently, PayStand deals with all PCI compliance concerns and tokenizes card data so the merchant has a lower PCI burden.

The company believes that as it has partnerships with the top ten banks in the world, businesses working with it are not actually transferring the money themselves. Therefore, according to the company it is not necessary for them to comply with money transmitter requirements.

As PayStand claims that it hates transaction fees and does not want users to have to pay them again, a lot of users who wish to save some money would prefer its solutions.


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Today’s surprisingly strong jobs data from the NFP*employment report is giving the US Dollar strength across the board. Commodity currencies Aussie and Kiwi are both being pulled lower by the USD after spending the week in consolidation. Let’s take a look at where these two comm dolls might be heading.

The AUD/USD is breaking into new lows on the year after consolidating this week ahead of the NFP report. With the 2014 low broken, it opens up the 2010-low at 0.8066 in 2015. In the short to medium-term, if the bearish trend is to continue, we should see resistance around 0.8750. The NZD/USD is now breaking this week’s rising speedline after the NFP report, which signals bearish continuation. It has already broken into new lows on the year this week at 0.7707. A break below 0.77 will first test the 2013-low at 0.7683. Below 0.7680, the next key support is around the 2012-lows in the 0.7455-0.7460 area. If the short to medium-term mode is to remain bearish, NZD/USD should see resistance around 0.7850.


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Bill Gates admits the Bitcoin technology is Key at SIBOS 2014

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Oct 3, 2014 11:58PM BST




Bitcoin has received another advocate in the form of Bill Gates who has now updated his stance on Bitcoin. Earlier, he called the digital currency a technological tour-de-force a month or so ago; however, now he believes that the digital currency is a revolutionary technology and key. He was participating in SIBOS 2014 at Boston.

Talking to Bloomberg TV’s Erik Schatzker, Bill Gates admitted said that the Bitcoin technology is key. The statement from the Microsoft founder is an indication that he no longer considers Bitcoin merely a technological tour-de-force but more than that. Bill Gates gave the final speech at SIBOS 2014, the annual SWIFT banking conference.

The event is being held this year in Boston and attracting participants from financial and banking services industry. In his speech, Bill Gates shared his vast well of experience with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations’ efforts to combat financial inequality around the world and also talked about the promising digital currency technology.

Bill Gates also talked about the promise of digital financial services and how the world’s existing financial institutions should leverage them to provide services to the developing world. It is to be noted that some Bitcoin exchanges are trying to provide services focused to meet the requirements from clients in Africa and from his statement, it looks this is what he wants.

Bloomberg News‘ Schatzker asked candid questions whether or not Bitcoin fits the bill; however, Bill Gates still marked worries about Bitcoin’s use in terrorism and money laundering. Thus, so far from his statements about Bitcoin, it is clear that he now recognizes the promise of Blockchain technology.

Bitcoin is better than Traditional Currency for International Transactions

Eric Schatzker asked about the need to move money from place to place and the cost to do so i.e. the overhead vis-à-vis Bitcoin. Answering to the question Bill Gates said that Bitcoin is exciting because it shows how cheap it can be. According to him Bitcoin is better than currency in that users don’t have to be physically in the same place and of course for large transactions currency can get pretty inconvenient.

He added that the customers that are being talked about aren’t trying to be anonymous. In fact, they are willing to be known so the Bitcoin technology is key and they could add to it or they could build a similar technology where there’s enough attribution that people feel comfortable this is nothing to do with terrorism or any type of money laundering.


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Jon Matonis, ED of the Bitcoin Foundation Says Bitcoin will become the new gold

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Oct 4, 2014 4:13PM BST



Though the prices of Bitcoin has gone down significantly this year when compared to the last year when they reached to the record 1200 US dollars, Jon Matonis, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation claims that the digital currency has huge potential. He says that when it clicks, the Bitcoin is going to reach an inflection point and become the new gold.
He was speaking at the Institute of Directors’ annual convention in the Royal Albert Hall wherein he admitted that Bitcoin was an “epic” revolution analogous to the printing press. Bitcoin is receiving accolades from various noted businessmen like Bill Gates who recently admitted that the digital currency is key to the modern day businesses.

Coming from the executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation the statement has not surprised many as it is the job of the body to expound the idea of the digital currency to the world and Jon Matonis is doing a fantastic job. His organization is a lobbying group founded in 2012 and aims to “standardize, protect and promote” the use of Bitcoin.

In his speech Mr Matonis claimed that countries such as Argentina were already adopting virtual currencies widely as trust in government declined and inflation rates increased. According to him half of the world’s population is unbanked which provides huge scope not just for Bitcoin but also for the other organizations to reach them.

Mr Matonis says that the unbanked population can’t even sign up for an online university course because they don’t have a credit card and when they try to better themselves they run into these payment barriers. He told that Bitcoin has issued $6bn worth of currency since it launched five years ago.

Bitcoin has Huge Scope among the Unbanked Population

However, according to him it has both struggled to attract mainstream adoption and also increasingly come to the attention of regulators. He believes that central banks could regulate people converting Bitcoin to other currencies, but could not currently regulate transactions conducted entirely in Bitcoin.

Jon Matonis says that users retained the choice to maintain privacy. He added that money doesn’t do bad things, people do bad things and according to him Bitcoin is a non political monetary unit that transcends borders. He says that in five short years Bitcoin has issued 12m units valued at $6bn and no other virtual currency has ever done that in the history of modern economics.


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