Nelson Minier, head of over-the-counter (OTC) trading at major cryptocurrency platform Kraken, has stated that the OTC desk’s trades per month have increased by a factor of 20 since the beginning of last year. Minier gave his remarks in an episode of The Block’s podcast, The Scoop, on Aug. 20. Minier further remarked that “Bitcoin and Ether are the big — the whales of our desk,” additionally estimating that Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Monero (XMR), and Tether (USDT) were the top five cryptocurrencies traded by volume. Minier also gave his projections on BTC price, saying: “I don’t …

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. Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. Crypto enthusiasts despise fiat currencies while central banks have largely been against cryptocurrencies, as they consider crypto assets to be a form of competition to their existence. However, a new analysis has found that mere existence of cryptocurrencies benefits both society and the government. Cryptocurrencies offer an opportunity for citizens to diversify their investments. …

With Bitcoin regaining market dominance of over two-thirds of the entire combined cryptocurrency capitalization, discussions regarding market share of prominent altcoins have largely left the dominant cryptocurrency discourse. Here is a different outlook on the market and on how the top cryptocurrencies stack up with the rest. Market dominance flows from alts to BTC since 2018 Market dominance between the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization has changed over the last year. As of Aug. 19, 2018, as seen in the chart below, the three largest coins comprised 71.95% of the combined cryptocurrency market — an 8% difference to the figures …

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. Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. The global amount of debt with negative yields ballooned up to $15 trillion, according to Deutsche Bank. Though yields in the United States are still in the green, President Donald Trump has been pressing the Fed to cut rates aggressively. If the US also joins the negative yield bandwagon, cryptocurrencies are likely to surge. …

Cybersecurity company Varonis has discovered a new cryptojacking virus, dubbed “Norman,” that aims to mine the cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) and evade detection. Varonis published a report about Norman on Aug.14. According to the report, Varonis found Norman as one of many cryptojacking viruses deployed in an attack that infected machines at a mid-size company. Hackers and cybercriminals deploy cryptojacking hardware to use the computing power of unsuspecting users’ machines to mine cryptocurrencies like the privacy oriented coin Monero. Norman in particular is a crypto miner based on XMRig, which is described in the report as a high-performance miner for Monero …

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. Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, believes that the performance of Bitcoin in the past few days shows that it is working like a geopolitical turmoil indicator. He points out that Bitcoin predicted Hong Kong protests and some capital flight out of Hong Kong and China. Both in Argentina and Hong Kong, investors paid …

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. Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. Goldman Sachs is positive on Bitcoin. In a note, one of the firm’s analysts has projected a short-term target of $12,916 to $13,971, after which it might enter a consolidation. For the long term, the analyst considers the current move as the first leg of the five wave count, which means that the analyst …

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. The market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. About 15 countries, including the G-7 nations, have agreed to create a new system to share personal data of cryptocurrency users to keep a check on money laundering and other illegal activities. The Financial Action Task Force, an international organization comprising more than 30 member countries and economies, is likely to design the …

Malware Smominru mines Monero (XMR) on at least half a million infected computers and now also steals sensitive personal data. An updated malware Cybersecurity company Carbon Black claimed that its Threat Analysis Unit “uncovered a secondary component in a well-known cryptomining campaign” in a report published on Aug. 7. According to the firm, the malware has now been updated to “also steal system access information for possible sale on the dark web.” Per the report, the update is part of a broader trend in malware development: “This discovery indicates a bigger trend of commodity malware evolving to mask a darker …

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. Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. Vertical moves are unsustainable in the long run. Hence, it is always better if there are consolidations in between because those levels act as a floor during corrections. Tim Draper believes that the consolidation might delay Bitcoin’s eventual rally, but he remains steadfast in his target of $250,000. Nicholas Gregory, CEO of blockchain firm …

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. Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. The rally in cryptocurrencies has largely been led by Bitcoin (BTC). Its dominance has increased from 51.63% at the start of the year to close to 70% in just over seven months. This shows that the crypto recovery has been a Bitcoin story throughout. Therefore, many traders who had held altcoins in their portfolio …

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. Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. The trade war between China and the United States intensified as China allowed its currency, the yuan, to fall to its lowest level since 2008. This is seen as a retaliatory move by China on the latest tariff hikes by the U.S. If the nations enter into a currency war, it will only strengthen …