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Sam Ouimet   

Bitcoin traded in a range of just under $1,500 over the course of the month of September, its narrowest monthly trading range since July 2017, data reveals.

At close of trading Sunday, bitcoin (BTC) officially ended the 30-day period with a trading range of $1,329, with prices oscillating between a low of $6,100 and a high of $7,429.

Overall, this was the lowest one-month range since July 2017, when bitcoin traded in a $1,095.8 window, according to data from Bitfinex.Further, the monthly trading volume throughout September marked its lowest amount since April 2017, according to the exchange, one of the world's largest.

Periods of low volatility often come to a boisterous end for bitcoin especially when accompanied by low volume, so it seems the cryptocurrency is gearing up for a decisive move in either direction.

Monthly Chart

Bitcoin concluded its September candlestick inside the low and high of the prior month's candlestick, creating a pattern known as the "inside bar pattern." In trending markets, the pattern can present strong buy or sell signals if current prices surpass the range of the prior month.

Since the market for bitcoin has been in a bearish downtrend since December of 2017, current prices falling below the low of September ($6,100) would likely confirm more downside action is to come and set scope for prior support/resistance level near $4,900.

On the other hand, if September's range high is surpassed ($7,429), it would be a bullish indication for longer-term upside potential and possible bull market revival.

20-Month Moving Average

The current bear market draws many parallels to that of bitcoin's bear market in 2014-15.Notably, the current bear market just began its 11th month, while prices now sitting on the 20-month moving average (MA) for support. The timing is rather impeccable when compared to the 2014 market since its 11th month also rested on the 20-month MA.

This would suggest a decisive move could be incoming since falling below the MA in the 12th month of the 2014 bear market further cemented the trend in bearish favor, of which it was unable to escape until returning above the MA in November of 2015.

View

• This will be a decisive month for bitcoin as the low volatility suggests a big move is coming in either direction.
• Falling below September's low of $6,100 opens the door to prior support/resistance level near $4,900, while rising above Septembers high could signal a bull market revival.
• Falling below the 20-month MA would likely confirm several more months of the bear market are ahead.

Disclosure: The author holds BTC, AST, REQ, OMG, FUEL, 1st and AMP at the time of writing.

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With the recent birth of the millionth Kitty, what’s next for the Dapp?Vulcat was born on September 12, and it was fire. This birth-by-flame marks 1,000,000 CryptoKitties pouncing on Ethereum – and only 288 days, or around nine months, after the Dapp launched.

Despite the game's initial effect on the speed of the network, or the various slumps experienced by the larger cryptocurrency market, the popularity of these cute digital cats is unwavering. In fact, CryptoKitties consistently hovers within the top five most trafficked games on Ethereum, according to DappRadar.

The game has emerged as a cultural phenomenon. The concept of "CryptoKitties as art," for instance, has been made abundantly clear through various museum exhibitions that feature the pixelated cats. It could be said that a telltale sign that a product or service has "made it" is when it becomes (or is treated as) art – just take a look at Andy Warhol's famous canvases of Campbell's soup.

Plus, fans have gotten CryptoKitties tattoos, another clear demonstration of the cats' successful integration into blockchain culture.The Dapp also boasts a KittyVerse, which is the team's term for all the developers building on top of CryptoKitties' application programming interface. One third-party developer, Kitty.

Kred, recently unveiled a Dapp that transforms the Kitties into collectible coins. With examples like this, the greater Ethereum community has undoubtedly shown an interest in the fuzzy, and sometimes weird, cat-faced non-fungible tokens.With all this success though – and in a relatively short amount of time – what comes next for CryptoKitties? 

ETHNews spoke with Bryce Bladon, one of the team's founding members and the "cool cat" responsible for the Dapp's brand and communications, to find out.One short-term project the crew is working on is a new gene for the Kitties called a prestige trait. Bladon said this gene is "time-limited" and "has a lot of attributes similar to how Fancy Cats are created.

" For CryptoKitties newcomers, a Fancy Cat is a rare type of Kitty with custom art, generated when players create a cat with a certain combination of cattributes (the game's name for a cat's characteristics).

The prestige gene differs from Fancy Cats in that it is one specific trait that, when unlocked, can "change the shape of the art in a very unique way.

"Regarding the longer term, however, Bladon spoke more generally about CryptoKitties' progress. He noted that there are 50 teams currently building projects in the KittyVerse, 12 of which were established within a month of the Dapp's launch. "We have seen developer adoption only go up since launching," he elaborated.

Bladon also emphasized the Dapp's shift from product to platform, which he believes "has been unbelievably interesting and very promising," especially when it comes to the broader blockchain industry and mainstream adoption of the technology.

He noted that it is "very important that other creators can actually be building things, especially on top of established concepts like CryptoKitties.

"Moreover, Bladon expressed his enthusiasm for the intersection of Kitties and art. He believes that art, like games in general, can "expedite understanding of something" – in this case, that something is the blockchain technology underpinning the CryptoKitties game.

The way that art can be used to express a concept "in a new and interesting way," he maintains, goes "hand in hand with emerging technologies" like blockchain.

Although he was not able to provide more specifics about projects and developments in the Kitty pipeline, Bladon said there would be two or three key announcements in the coming weeks. Regarding this forthcoming news, he noted, "Our goal is to allow everyday people to actually experience the value of blockchain so that they can be a part of its future.

" The CryptoKitties crew, as such, has "some pretty big ambitions with the next thing" it is developing.CryptoKitties might be misunderstood. The game might receive dismissive scoffs or headshakes. It also might frustrate an individual trying to understand why anybody would pay $140,000 for a digital cat based on some lines of code.

Despite all these reactions, though, the collectibles-driven game has won over the hearts of many, and the team continues to think nine lives ahead.

DANIEL PUTNEY

Daniel Putney is a full-time writer for ETHNews. He received his bachelor's degree in English writing from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he also studied journalism and queer theory. In his free time, he writes poetry, plays the piano, and fangirls over fictional characters. He lives with his partner, three dogs, and two cats in the middle of nowhere, Nevada.
ETHNews is committed to its Editorial Policy

The cryptocurrency industry saw the worst first three months of 2018 when the market capitalization fell from $830 billion in January to under $300 billion at the beginning of February.

Yet, despite the issues regarding regulatory concerns, the potential threat of money laundering, and cryptocurrency exchange hacks, it doesn’t appear to be denting enthusiasm from investors. So much so, that aside from traders putting money into the more popular digital currencies — Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin — they are now turning their attention to other coins to broaden out their portfolios.

And now there may be a solution for investors that makes it easier to do so.

Creating a platform that combines fiat and tokens

Cryptology.com is a next-generation cryptocurrency exchange that makes fiat and cryptocurrency trading easy and secure. Its user-friendly web platform provides attractive conditions for professionals and offers an option of a mobile app for those wanting to trade on the go.

A basic web version has gone live this month. An advanced professional version of the trading platform with margin trading is planned to be launched in Q3 2018. The official launch of the iOS and Android app took place in March and users can now trade cryptocurrency wherever they are.

According to this blog, ‘it’s the first cryptocurrency exchange to combine tokens with easy fiat transactions’ such as Visa and Mastercard deposit options. Wire transfers for Europe are also on allowing for easy and secure trading.Combining tokens and fiat transactions at the same time, Cryptology’s aim is to provide a user-friendly platform where newbies and experienced traders can use a credit card.

Some of the problems that the team are striving to solve include the complexity of fiat transactions, hard-to-get rare tokens, high commissions, sluggish and complicated account verification, inactive customer support, lack of security, and cluttered interfaces, to name a few.

“We strive to create a single platform bringing together fiat transactions and a variety of tokens,” the exchange said. “Complex procedures will become a thing of the past, as users will be able to buy tokens with fiat currencies. Everything you need will be available on a single platform. You won’t have to deal with high commissions on fiat transactions, difficult KYC [Know-Your-Customer] procedures and slow support.”

Cryptology’s key advantage is an agreement with a payment system that permits it to manage fiat transactions in addition to offering its users competitive service fees. Other advantages include a 0 percent token withdrawal fee, 0 percent maker fee for token pairs, fast verification (just 30 seconds), and live support.

The web version is comfortable to use and absolutely intuitive. All the trading operations are secure and easy to carry out both for experts and newbies. Verification is quick and not complicated with support team on 24/7 to immediately handle any issue occurred. Trading with a minimum order size of just 0.01 EUR is open with 100% secure and quick transactions on cryptology.com.

Crypto withdrawals fees for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin are charged at 0.0005 and 0.002 for Ethereum. A maker fee will be listed at 0.15 percent and a taker fee at 0.25 percent. There are no minimum deposits and no withdrawal limits. The minimum order size is as low as 0.01 in fiat currency or the equivalent of $0.01 in cryptocurrency.

Delivering a range of tokens on one platform

Operating out of Singapore, the digital currencies users can trade on the exchange are bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash and litecoin. These cryptocurrencies are also paired with the USD, Euro and USDT with more to be added in the future.

Several ERC20 tokens are also available on the exchange for trading, depositing, and withdrawal, with many more to be added. The goal is to offer a wide variety of tokens on a single minimalistic platform in a portfolio that is easy to manage.

With offices being opened in different parts of the globe Cryptology are working at building a truly international exchange. Services will first be offered to users in Europe, with plans to expand to the Japanese and US markets.

As the cryptocurrency market continues to grow, with new investors putting money into the industry, knowing where to go to expand a user’s portfolio is somewhat limited. Cryptology is aiming to fill this gap with their exchange that intends to provide mass access to the space that is fast and easy through a marketplace that caters to their every need.



This post is brought to you by The Cointelegraph and shouldn't be considered investment advice by TNW. Yes, TNW sells ads. But we sell ads that don’t suck.

The founder of cryptocurrency hedge fund Pantera Capital said on Thursday that he believes the cryptocurrency market cap could one day be worth $40 trillion.Dan Morehead, who is also the firm’s CEO, said in an interview with Bloomberg that he believes the fair market value of the cryptocurrency market cap is an order of magnitude or two above where it currently sits.

“Obviously, we’re very bullish on the space. We think we’re way below, maybe an order of magnitude — or two — below the real fundamental fair value of blockchain,” he said, stating later that “the industry as a whole is $400 billion. It easily could go to $4 trillion, and $40 trillion is definitely possible.”

“Anything that’s a $400 billion asset will not be ignored for long,” he added.For the cryptocurrency market cap to reach $40 trillion, it would need to increase approximately 10,000 percent from its current level. If current market share distribution held constant — which of course is unlikely — the Bitcoin price would trade at a nearly $1 million valuation.

Bloomberg Crypto✔@crypto.@PanteraCapital CEO Dan Pantera says the crypto market could

reach $4 trillion https://bloom.bg/2JtpeSt 



7:23 PM - Apr 26, 2018

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As CCN reported, Pantera recently issued just its fourth trading recommendation on Bitcoin in its seven-year history, arguing that BTC had flashed a buy signal after dipping below its 200-day moving average. Since then, the Bitcoin price has climbed by approximately $2,000, netting investors who followed the firm’s advice a 29 percent profit.

Morehead doubled down on that recommendation during Thursday’s interview, stating that Bitcoin remained a “screaming buy” even after its moderate recovery.

Previously, Morehead said in mid-December that the Bitcoin price could decline by 50 percent or more heading into the new year, after which the flagship cryptocurrency entered a prolonged bear market out of which it has only recently begun to recover.

Notably, the publication reports that Pantera — which was founded in 2011 — currently has approximately $1 billion in assets under management. Of that, about 10 percent is in Bitcoin, though its largest stake in Icon, which ranks outside the top 20 on the market cap charts.

Featured image from Flickr/Techcrunch.

https://www.ccn.com/40-trillion-cryptocurrency-market-cap-definitely-possible-pantera-capital-ceo/

The IRS has its eye on cryptocurrency investments. If you traded or sold any kind of cryptocurrency last year, here’s what you need to know before tax day.In 2014, the IRS issued one notice — IRS Notice 2014-21, 2014-16 IRB 938 — about cryptocurrency (let’s call it “the 2014 Notice”).

This is considered tax authority, although it does not have the same weight or effect as a law or regulation. But it’s all we have so far, and given no other official IRS guidance, it’s pretty informative of how the IRS thinks about cryptocurrency.

The 2014 Notice gives some very high-level background on how existing tax code applies to cryptocurrency and how the IRS views it as property. This classification as “property” requires a lot of effort on your part.

Most importantly, you need to know the adjusted cost basis of your property (cryptocurrency) so you can determine your gain or loss when you go to trade in or sell that property. Typically, basis is first determined by cost – in other words, the amount in U.S. dollars you paid for the property –  and adjusted by certain events (this might include stock splits if you held stock).

Each Bitcoin you have will have its own cost basis, and it is possible this cost basis needs to be adjusted as you hold the Bitcoin – although adjustments to basis are as yet unclear in the cryptocurrency context.There doesn’t yet exist a global reporting mechanism to confirm adjusted basis for people who bought or sold cryptocurrency in the past year and are now in the process of figuring out gains or losses.

 So if you aren’t getting any kinds of reports from your investments (which isn’t unusual), you’ll have to determine the adjusted basis and any associated gain or loss on your own. Moreover, you will need to track the character of your gain or loss from your cryptocurrency sales or trades. The character depends on whether the virtual currency is a capital asset in the hands of the taxpayer.

To make these determinations, you will likely have to go back through your bank or wallet receipts and emails to find out what you paid for a cryptocurrency in U.S. dollars (or the U.S. dollar equivalent of another cryptocurrency) to determine the cost basis of the property in question.


Then you will need to consider whether you engaged in any events since the date of acquisition that require an adjustment to the basis. Ultimately, that should get you to the adjusted basis at the time you sold or exchanged the property. And if you only sold or traded a portion of your cryptocurrency, you will need to determine which portion of your adjusted basis was sold or exchanged.

Most often, FIFO, or a “first in, first out” method, is applied for this determination. It’s a challenging endeavor for those who just got started investing in this area and could be nearly impossible for early adopters, who may not have kept detailed records.


Nevertheless, the IRS has said it expects taxpayers to comply with general tax law for all virtual currency transactions, even those enacted before the 2014 Notice. If you don’t, there is potential for penalties or audits.

Adding another layer of complication is when cryptocurrencies are mined instead of purchased with cash. You’ll need to determine if you were an employee or independent contractor mining for someone else, if you were getting wages for mining cryptocurrency, if those wages were in U.S. dollars or virtual currency, and how much each of those transactions was worth in U.S. dollars on the day they were recognized as transactions.

If you were mining for someone else, your earnings are considered wages, subject to regular wage withholding by your employer. If you were doing it as an independent contractor, those earnings have to be considered self-employment earnings. In other words, those earnings will not be reported as capital.

So you have both the initial difficulty of determining fair market value of the virtual currency and the added complication of properly categorizing your mining activity. Note, this is assuming employees or contractors are getting paid in cryptocurrency; regular salary paid in cash and similar payments are treated under standard income tax principles.

If it sounds complicated, it is. Here are a few ways to prepare yourself for a tax filing.

1. Don’t neglect to report any amount of cryptocurrency gains or losses from your investments. Be mindful of the limitations on losses that could apply. For example, generally capital losses of individual taxpayers (as opposed to ordinary losses, which are subject to special rules) are limited to $3,000 per year.

If you sold a portion of even one Bitcoin for any amount of money (even a small amount), the IRS has made it pretty clear they expect you to make best efforts to report any gain or loss triggered by the sale. The IRS, in fact, reinforced this position on March 23, 2018, by releasing a reminder to taxpayers to report virtual currency transactions, and stated in the reminder that taxpayers who do not properly report the income tax consequences of virtual currency transactions can be audited for those transactions and, when appropriate, can be liable for penalties and interest.


2. Start an ongoing spreadsheet that captures when you bought a cryptocurrency and how much it was worth in U.S. dollars on that day, when you sell or trade it and how much it is worth in equivalent U.S. dollars on that day, what you sell or trade for it and the value of what you get in return for that sale or trade. Make efforts also to track any possible adjustments to the cost basis in your cryptocurrency such as splits or forks, even if it is unclear yet whether those adjustments should be taken into account. In the long run, it will serve you better to get everything in order now, as more regulations are expected, and they may increase your reporting requirements.


3. Think more broadly about what you do with your cryptocurrency beyond strictly selling it. As I said above, tax law considers convertible virtual currencies like Bitcoin to be property. So you potentially have gains or losses if you trade Bitcoin for tangible things like a cup of coffee or goods on a third-party website. Technically, that’s a reportable transaction for tax purposes, and Uncle Sam wants a cut of any gain you earned on the transaction. It’s not intuitive that you would have to report this, so pay special attention to tracking the value of the good you bought and if that value resulted in a gain or loss compared to the adjusted basis of the cryptocurrency on that specific day. If you track those things and report accordingly for tax purposes, you’ll be in a much better position to defend your actions in an audit.


4. This trading concept applies to inter-cryptocurrency trades too. If you trade one type of cryptocurrency for another, it could also trigger these same issues. Under prior law, a trade of one cryptocurrency for another could in some cases be considered a tax-free like-kind exchange. Some cryptocurrency investors relied on that principle to treat cryptocurrency swaps as tax-free like-kind exchanges. The most recent tax reform has made that an impossibility, as all like-kind exchanges are now required to be exchanges of real property, such as exchanges of rental houses or commercial buildings.


So for those who are exchanging cryptocurrency, you’d still need to determine the adjusted basis of the virtual currency on the day you traded it and see if that was worth more or less than the currency you were exchanging it for on the day you swapped it and report gain or loss accordingly.

To recap: Cryptocurrency has to be looked at as property, not cash, when doing a tax return. So if you bought Bitcoin or a similar convertible virtual currency as a sole investor during the year and have held onto it (with no dividend or fork, either of which could lead to other tax complications), you probably don’t have any reporting obligation.

But if you sold or traded it last year, you may have to report your gain or loss to the IRS. So grab a spreadsheet. As cryptocurrency becomes more legitimate, the rules become more significant.

This article is provided as general informational and should not be construed as legal advice. Sarah-Jane Morin is an attorney with Morgan Lewis. She represents public and private companies, private equity funds, venture capital funds, real estate funds, portfolio companies, and real estate investment trusts in the tax aspects of complex business transactions and fund formations. You can reach her at [email protected].

See more from Venturebeat here: https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/07/cryptocurrency-and-taxes-its-complicated/