Cryptocurrency News From Japan: Jan. 26–Feb. 1 in Review

Coincheck exchange tops the app charts, Japan’s central bank head forecasts CBDC demand, and more in news from Japan this past week.

This week in Japan, SBI Holdings’ president said to watch for central bank digital currencies, or CBDC, Coincheck exchange tallied top app downloads for exchanges is 2019, Japan’s central bank head forecasted CBDC demand, a Japanese political party proposed blockchain for document security, and a research institute unveiled a crypto index. 

Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan.

President of Japanese financial services giant says CBDC is a big deal

Yoshitaka Kitao, President of Tokyo-based financial services company SBI holding, called central bank digital currencies “the biggest thing to watch out for,” in a note on Jan. 31. 

Kitao, however, expressed concern regarding the complexities associated with cross-border payments between countries if each region has its own central bank digital currency, or, CBDC. 

The SBI president hinted toward the demise of J Coin, a specific digital asset Mizuho Financial Group developed, saying, "I can't help J-coin because the central bank digital currency will begin.” He added, “Then we have to deal with it (CBDC) in Europe, America and Japan."

Coincheck crypto exchange app ranked number one for 2019 in Japan

Tokyo-based crypto wallet and exchange Coincheck topped the Japanese trading application leaderboard with its app last year, achieving the highest number of downloads in 2019. Additionally, the app achieved the most daily active users last year. 

Coincheck’s app tallied 2.74 million downloads between 2015 and 2019. The exchange also decided to give the iPhone and Android versions of its app an overhaul, simplifying the authentication process. 

Bank of Japan head forecasts increasing demand for CBDC

Masakazu Amamiya, Deputy Governor for the Bank of Japan, or BOJ, thinks demand for a central bank digital currency is on the horizon in the country, noting that Japan should prepare for such a development. 

Prior to Amamiya’s comments, no BOJ head has spoken strongly on central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. 

"The pace of technological innovation is very fast,” Amamiya said. “With the widespread adoption of payment systems worldwide, public demand for CBDC could surge in Japan." 

Japanese political party representative advises digital documents use blockchain

During a Jan. 30 House of Counselors Budget Committee gathering, Japan Restoration Association Representative Shun Otokita recommended digital documents incorporate blockchain technology for improved security. 

"With current technology, falsification can be prevented indefinitely,” he said, adding:

“Since the digitization of official documents has not been advanced, it is possible to adapt blockchain technology relatively easily .... The government blocks official document management. The use of chain technology will definitely contribute to its development. Blockchain should be implemented with the digitization of official document management."

Japan’s Nomura Research Institute announces crypto index

Located in Japan’s capital, the Nomura Research Institute, or NRI, announced a crypto index on Jan. 29. NRI’s announcement falls in line with its belief that crypto assets will continue market advancement in the coming days.

Focused on institutional participants, the NRI/IU Crypto Asset Index Family hit the markets on Jan. 31, paired against the Japanese yen. The institute also launched a U.S. version of the index, paired against USD.

The index includes price action for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ehtereum, Litecoin and XRP.

from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2u2saDP

Portfolios with Bitcoin Allocation Outperform Traditional Investments

New data shows diversification between Bitcoin and traditional assets provides better risk-adjusted performance for investors.

Bitcoin (BTC) was the best performing asset of the decade according to a recent report by Cointelegraph and earlier this week Morgan Creek Capital CEO, Mark Yusko, said that every investment portfolio should have a minimum 1% Bitcoin allocation. 

Yusko made the comments during an interview with Max Keiser on the Keiser Report, published on Jan. 30. Keiser also noted that portfolios with a 1% allocation to Bitcoin have also outperformed nearly all other investments of the past five years. 

Over the past 6 years, due to its volatile nature, many investors have taken advantage of Bitcoin’s wide price movements. Hence, it has been suggested that a diversified crypto portfolio doesn’t offer the advantages that an investor could expect from the application of traditional diversification principles. 

Bitcoin’s high volatility is often interpreted as an unreasonable risk to traditional investors and it has been one of the key issues preventing established investment firms from considering it as a consistent investment vehicle. However, volatility is one of the primary reasons Bitcoin is able to generate phenomenal gains to investors.

Nevertheless, we’ll look further into the matter and for those looking to take advantage of Bitcoin’s behavior without exposing themselves to the risk presented by its volatility we will analyze how several investment baskets composed of Bitcoin and traditional assets such as stock indices and treasuries perform. 

Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360

Defining diversified investment baskets

To determine whether diversified crypto portfolios provide a return that is above the average produced by traditional markets but also does not expose investors to untenable levels of risk, we have analyzed the diversification power of traditional stocks indexes (S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite), and the Treasury Bill (10 Year Government Bond) in comparison to investing only in Bitcoin or in a Bitcoin-indexed trust like the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). 

We defined the following investment baskets: 

• Basket Nº1: 50% of Bitcoin and S&P 500; 

• Basket Nº2: 50% of Bitcoin and Nasdaq; 

• Basket Nº3: 50% of Bitcoin and T-Bill; 

• Basket Nº4: 33% of each Index (S&P500 and Nasdaq) and 33% of Bitcoin; 

• Basket Nº5: 33% of Bitcoin, S&P500 and T-Bill; 

• Basket Nº6: 33% of Bitcoin, Nasdaq and T-Bill; 

• Basket Nº7: 25% of each asset (BTC, S&P500, Nasdaq and T-Bill). 

Analyzing the period from Jan. 2017 until Dec. 2019, Bitcoin alone offered the best cumulative return (293%) from all the investment options. The asset was followed by a 270% gain from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. 

From a risk-adjusted perspective, Bitcoin shows a 0.98 ratio and Grayscale a 0.67 Shape ratio – considered low values – meaning investors are taking up too much risk for the return they get from investing in these two assets. 

January 2017-December 2019 Cumulative Return for Bitcoin and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust

These two assets will be used as the reference investment options when comparing the performance of the diversified investment baskets. 

Diversification basket performance 

Looking at the cumulative returns for each basket, we conclude that basket Nº2 (composed of 50% Bitcoin and 50% Nasdaq Composite) offers the best investment option (222%) for the sample period. This was followed by basket Nº1 which was composed of 50% Bitcoin and 50% S&P 500. 

The third best option consists of investing 33% in each stock index (S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite) and 33% in Bitcoin (basket Nº4), resulting in a 192% cumulative return. From a purely return-based point of view, all the diversified options give investors a worse performing strategy than investing solely in Bitcoin or Grayscale’s GBTC security.

Interestingly, the worst cumulative returns from the baskets is the one with more diversification (basket Nº7). This basked consisted of 25% of each asset (BTC, S&P500, Nasdaq and T-Bill) and provided a 164% return. 

We could be tempted to reconfirm previous reports citing the lack of value in diversified crypto investing, but in order to reach that conclusion, one would need to analyze the risk-adjusted performance using the Sharpe ratio. This would allow an investor to comply with its risk aversion level. 

January 2017-December 2019 Cumulative Return for each Investment Basket

The data shows that 5 out of the 7 available diversified baskets offer a better risk-adjusted performance than investing in either Bitcoin or Grayscale’s (GBTC) trust. Moreover, the best option is provided by basket Nº4 which has a 1.32 Sharpe ratio and consists of investing 33% in each index and the remaining 33% in Bitcoin. The options consisting of 50% Bitcoin and 50% of the other stock indexes offer also acceptable Sharpe ratios at 1.20 and 1.14. 

Sharpe Ratio for each Diversified Investment Basket

Diversification power for investors

It is worthwhile mentioning that in order to develop this analysis, weekends and holiday returns were taken out of the sample in order to construct diversified portfolios as stock indexes are not traded during those days, unlike the cryptocurrency market which is always open. 

Despite that adjustment, this analysis shows the benefits of applying traditional diversification principles into the crypto space. 

Looking forward, investors have the chance to take advantage of high-gain assets like Bitcoin and offset their risk exposure by investing in traditional stock indexes to generate superior performance.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2ROiRAl

Charles Hoskinson: Cardano Will Become “the Most Decentralized Cryptocurrency in the World”

Cointelegraph caught up with the Cardano co-founder to learn the latest.

Cardano will become the most decentralized cryptocurrency in the world, 50 to 100 times more decentralized than Bitcoin once all its upgrades are implemented.

At least that’s the word according to Cardano co-founder and CEO of IOHK Charles Hoskinson, who caught up with Cointelegraph at CV Summit, a day-long crypto event running alongside the 50th edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Speaking with Cointelegraph’s Kristina Cornèr, Hoskinson said he believes the hard fork, consisting of an implementation of the Ouroboros Bizantine Fault-Tolerant Consensus Protocol, will be seamless and easy. Following the hard fork, the protocol will undergo a series of additional upgrades which should eventually turn Cardano into the most decentralized cryptocurrency in the world.

Check out the full interview with Charles Hoskinson and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2RPRAxa

ETH Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin: “Bitcoin Cash Is Not Bitcoin”

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently said BTC and BCH are not the same, although previous tweets show he is not against BCH outright.

In a recent tweet, Ethereum network co-founder Vitalik Buterin said Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) are not the same. 

“Bitcoin Cash is not Bitcoin,” Buterin said in a Feb 1 tweet responding to Brad Mills’ accusation of Buterin as Bitcoin Cash promoter. 

Several tweets exist that might suggest Buterin is not 100% against BCH, although he clearly made the distinction that BCH is not BTC, even back in 2017. 

Vitalik’s history with BCH

Several months after a 2017 hard fork divided BTC into two coins, BTC and BCH, Buterin tweeted a seemingly positive comment toward BCH. 

“I consider BCH a legitimate contender for the Bitcoin name,” Buterin tweeted on Nov. 13, 2017. “I consider bitcoin's *failure* to raise block sizes to keep fees reasonable to be a large (non-consensual) change to the ‘original plan’, morally tantamount to a hard fork.”

Although one might possibly interpret this tweet as support for BCH, Buterin’s additional tweet on the same day clearly shows distinction. 

“That said, *right now*, I think trying to claim ‘BCH = bitcoin’ is a bad idea, as it *is* a minority opinion in the ‘greater bitcoin community,’” he said in a follow-up tweet. 

Consistency shows

Almost one year later, in August 2018, Buterin again responded to BCH tweet with a comment consistent with his previous thoughts.

Twitter user Meni Rosenfeld tweeted, “It has been one year since BCH split off from Bitcoin, and it is now clear that it has failed to gain traction as ‘the’ Bitcoin.” Rosenfeld added, “It was given its chance but now it should cease confusing the market with the inappropriate name ‘Bitcoin Cash.’”

Buterin responded:

“I disagree. ‘Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin’ is at this point unrealistic, but the name Bitcoin Cash by itself is totally fine.”

According to Buterin’s comments, it seems like the Ethereum co-founder has not always been negative toward Bitcoin Cash, but he has clearly signified a difference between BTC and BCH through the years. 

In his most recent note on the subject, commenting on a BCH development fund Twitter post, Buterin said:

“In case you're wondering what side I'm on in all of this, I'm on the side of taking public goods challenges seriously and being open to adjusting ideological preconceptions while maintaining a commitment to core values of decentralization in order to meet them.”

Cointelegraph reached out to Buterin for additional details, but received no response as of press time. This article will be updated accordingly should a response come in.

from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2uRpkkW

Ripple’s Xpring Opens Developer Relations Forum

Ripple’s Xpring developer platform launches DevRel as an avenue for interaction with developers.

Ripple’s Xpring will launch a community web page and forum referred to as “developer relations,” or DevRel, for its developer platform. 

Most of Xpring’s employees work on the engineering and product side of the table, explained a Feb. 1 blog post on the Xpring website. “We think of DevRel as the ears and mouth of Xpring,” the post reads. 

Xpring for devs

Xpring originally functioned as Ripple’s investment branch. In October 2019, Ripple also launched an Xpring developer platform, giving creators a venue for digitizing money. 

Several months later, in December 2019, Xpring added features to its platform, including SDK, which added compatibility for programmers’ apps. 

DevRel for insights

According to the blog post, Xpring mentioned communicating with builders via content, events and support. 

Xpring aims to present developers with helpful materials like sample code and tutorials. The blog post also mentioned hosting conferences, as well as giving technical support, all in an effort to engage the community around the Xpring platform. 

Near the end of 2019, Cointelegraph also covered Xpring’s investments into several endeavors, including Bread wallet and Swedish startup Towo Labs. 

Cointelegraph reached out to Ripple for additional details, but received no response as of press time. This article will be updated accordingly should a response come in.

from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3b3mie0

Hyperledger’s Brian Behlendorf Says Blockchain’s Potential Is “Hitting a Tipping Point”

Hyperledger's Brian Behlendorf talks with Michael Casey about blockchain's "tipping point."

from CoinDesk https://ift.tt/36MOKNO

Bitcoin Price Faces the Last Big Hurdle Before $10,000

Bitcoin price is in the midst of a trend reversal that could push BTC to the next key resistance at $9.5K and then over $10K.

Bitcoin price (BTC) kicked off 2020 with an incredible 37% gain in the month of January. Aside from that, support was found at $8,200 earlier this week. This support test resulted in a continuation of the upward momentum, leading the price towards $9,500.

Is the price of Bitcoin ready to face $10,000?

Crypto market daily performance. Source: Coin360

Bitcoin shows strong monthly candle for January

The monthly candle closed yesterday, which can only give a bullish conclusion. A potential new upwards trend has started, given that buyers stepped in during January at every support/resistance test. 

BTC USDT 1-month chart. Source: TradingView

However, is it all sunshine and rainbows at the moment? Not completely. The price of Bitcoin has now moved towards the next resistance, and this one can be defined as a major hurdle, as shown by the following chart.

BTC USD 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

The resistance at $9,500 is massive, given that the price bounced multiple times on this level throughout the summer of 2019. If a breakout upwards occurs, continuation should be likely towards $10,900, and that would break the psychological barrier at $10,000.

Total market capitalization breaks a major resistance

Total market capitalization 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies is showing a clear test of the $215 billion levels for support, which was needed. After this, the market capitalization rallied towards another massive resistance. This level is found at $240-245 billion and is comparable to the level of $9,500 for Bitcoin.

However, there’s a difference here. The total market capitalization already broke above this level and is currently turning it in to support. Does this imply that altcoins are outperforming Bitcoin? 

It should be noted that there is also a bearish feature that can be observed on the chart. If the total market capitalization breaks below the $240 billion level, the potential bearish divergence becomes a confirmed bearish divergence. Another test of the $215 billion levels (the blue trendline) would be likely in this case. 

Altcoin market capitalization breaks the $80 billion barrier

Altcoin market capitalization crypto 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

The altcoin market capitalization is showing a similar chart as the total market capitalization. The critical level of $80 billion is broken to the upside, after which consolidation started. 

The same notions are also stated for the altcoin market capitalization chart. If there’s a break below the $80 billion levels again, the bearish divergence becomes confirmed, and retests of the $72 and $65 billion levels are likely to occur. 

However, on the bright side, if $80 billion is held as support, continuation towards $100, which is also the next resistance.

Bitcoin dominance still hovers below 68%

BTC Dominance 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

The dominance chart for Bitcoin didn’t change much in the recent weeks as major altcoins are still facing significant resistances. Currently, the most prominent examples would be (XRP) and Ether (ETH). XRP needs to break a 2-year old downtrend, while Ethereum needs to break above 0.02 satoshis to continue higher. 

If either of these two movements occurs, a continuation to the downside is likely for Bitcoin’s dominance. However, if Bitcoin itself starts to run above $9,500, a selloff on altcoins wouldn’t be a surprise. Such a selloff frequently occurs when Bitcoin’s volatility increases. 

ETH USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

The primary indicator for altcoins is Ether, which also broke a 7-month downtrend, as the chart shows. 

Recently, the price found support at $157 (green zone) and continued to rally. A similar support/resistance flip occurred at the $173 level, which makes me believe that a continuation towards $195 and $230 is likely.

As many charts are showing potential bearish divergences, a breakdown of Ether below $173 would generally mean a retest of $157-162 before further upward momentum. The key indicator for trends is still found in higher highs and higher lows. If Ether price breaks below $157, then the crypto market is in trouble. 

The bullish scenario for Bitcoin 

BTC USD 1-day bullish scenario. Source: TradingView

The bullish scenario is the main scenario at this point, given that the trend is moving upwards after the breakout of the 7-month downtrend. 

Key levels to watch are the $9,000 level and $9,500 level. The reasoning behind $9,000 is that it could be tested for support before the price continues to rally above $9,500. A retest of $8,750 and $9,000 is still healthy for the market structure, as the price of Bitcoin will still make higher lows. 

An apparent breakthrough of the $9,500 level would indicate a breakout above a significant resistance, as discussed in the article. 

If the price breaks through this level, targets will be found at $10,500 and $10,900. I don’t see resistance at $10,000 other than the fact that round numbers typically function as psychological barriers.

The bearish scenario for Bitcoin 

BTC USD 1-day bearish scenario. Source: TradingView

A bearish scenario would become valid if Bitcoin lost the $8,200 level. Losing this would signal that the momentum of higher lows is gone and further downward pressure would be expected.

Thus, what signals should traders look for in order to determine that Bitcoin has become bearish? If the price makes a retest at $8,750, the bounce should be severe enough to break back above $9,000. However, if resistance is immediately found and the price makes a lower high then continuation to the downside is warranted. 

But, price first needs to arrive at these levels to determine how traders and investors react. The momentum is up for now, and when the price of Bitcoin breaks above $10,000, FOMO (fear of missing out) could start to kick in. Especially given the halving is now just 100 days away.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2UrE6tB