By CCN: A bitcoin ETF does not wait on the immediate horizon, according to the managing director of ETF.com, Dave Nadig. A veteran of the exchange-traded fund market and an indexing expert, Nadig told CNBC’s Bob Pisani that a bitcoin ETF was not “imminent” but remained a strong possibility for 2019.

BITCOIN ETF NOT IMMINENT, SAYS MARKET EXPERT DAVE NADIG

Dave Nadig told CNBC there was no reason for any immediate hope of approval and that the regulator would likely exercise its authority to “kick this can down the road” and avoid making a decision as long as possible.

“The SEC is in information gathering road. Technically, there are deadlines, but it’s the SEC, they can do what they want. They can kick this can down the road.”

The crypto community has long been critical of the SEC for what Commissioner Hester M. Peirce – Crypto Mom – labels “heel-dragging.” Crypto Mom is fighting for the approval of an exchange-traded product from within and has long argued that institutional money would ameliorate many of the concerns the regulator had about bitcoin.

Nadig concurred, predicting that as the crypto market matures, the “regulators will get more comfortable.”

“We’re at least a quarter out,” he said, “and I think there’s still a reasonable chance for this year.”

VANECK TOLD TO WAIT… AGAIN

But they’re not comfortable yet.

The SEC delayed a decision on the VanEck ETF proposal yesterday, in another blow to the promise of a bitcoin ETF. The VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin Trust ETF is widely regarded as the most advanced product, and the one most likely to gain regulatory approval.

In its document filed Monday, the SEC put out a call for public comment and delayed a decision on the proposed rule changes that would allow the VanEck ETF to trade on the CBOE exchange to August 19.

Attorney Jake Chervinsky said that the SEC could – and likely would – delay the decision again in August until October 18.

As expected, the SEC has delayed the VanEck bitcoin ETF proposal. Read the order here: https://t.co/OB3TBgVGwg.

VanEck's new deadline is August 19. The SEC can & likely will delay one more time for a final deadline of October 18.

Looks like this ended up the right explanation: https://t.co/bkzeVRt1Hg

— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) May 20, 2019

VANECK BITCOIN ETF DELAY FOLLOWS HOT ON THE HEELS OF BITWISE NO-GO

The regulator also delayed the competing Bitwise Asset Management bitcoin ETF proposal last week. That product would trade on NYSE Arca. The fact that, at the time, the SEC remained silent on the VanEck proposal had led some to believe it would approve the latter.

That wasn’t to be.

The regulator has long been concerned about the custody arrangements the proposals had for the digital asset, as well as the potential for manipulation of crypto on largely unregulated markets. The relatively small size of the crypto industry also remains a key regulatory sticking point.

The Jay Clayton-led commission is yet to grant approval to any rule changes after dozens of attempts by a number of parties. As of yesterday, a bitcoin ETF appears no closer to reality.

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Blockchain-based live streaming service DLive has seen a 67 percent growth in its user base since PewDiePie, one of the world’s most popular YouTubers by subscriber numbers, joined the platform in April.

DLive now has more than 5 million monthly active users and over 70,000 streamers, Nikkei Asian Review reported Monday. The platform reportedly had around 3 million monthly active users and nearly 35,000 active streamers as of March.

PewDiePie, the 29-year-old Swedish content creator, real name Felix Kjellberg, signed an “exclusive” live streaming deal with DLive last month. His YouTube channel has over 95 million subscribers at press time, with his most recent video racking up close to 3 million views in less than 24 hours.

DLive is a decentralized platform built using the Lino Network blockchain, which rewards both content creators and viewers using its native token, “Lino points.” It takes no percentage of earnings and does not charge fees to content creators, although they do face platform fees when exchange tokens for fiat currency.

Wilson Wei, Lino Network co-founder, told Nikkei Asian Review:

“I think the lack of transparency and the huge cut that platforms take from content creators, are the two biggest problems the online streaming industry has. And blockchain is the perfect technology to solve both problems.”

DLive reportedly has plans to grow beyond its rival, Amazon-owned live streaming video platform Twitch, which takes a 50 percent cut from streamers and currently has 2.2 million daily broadcasters and 15 million daily viewers on average.

Lino raised $20 million in February 2018 to build a “YouTube on the blockchain” in a private token sale led by ZhenFund. Wei claimed at the time that he expects content creators to garner bring in three-to-five times the profits they make on YouTube or Twitch.

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Cryptocurrency trading platform Huobi Global has revealed that it would be celebrating the famous Bitcoin Pizza Day on Wednesday by selling the cryptocurrency at a discount rate for some traders on the exchange. Huobi will also launch the Reserve Right Token (RSR) on Huobi Prime, which is aimed at providing a stablecoin that would be accessible to people in all parts of the world.

Bitcoin Pizza Day to Become Huobi Prime Day

Huobi has revealed that it would be celebrating the now famous BTC Pizza Day by offering amazing deals to its customers. On May 22, the cryptocurrency exchange will provide BTC worth 1.5 million USDT to its customers in two special trading promos.

In the opening round, Huobi will sell 20% of the promotional coin supply to lucky users at 50% off Bitcoin’s market price. The other 80% will be made available to users in the second promo, at 12% off the market price.

For the opening round, the first customers to place their order will be served. However, to ensure that enough people get to participate, Huobi will process all qualified orders to a certain extent in the second round. This is to ensure that everyone gets some of the Bitcoin they seek. Huobi will also be hosting other Bitcoin-related activities such as the giving away of 1 BTC to a lucky user at the original Pizza Day prize, $0.03.

The Bitcoin Pizza Day represents the first real-world transaction made with Bitcoin when Laszlo Hanyecz purchased two pizzas with 10,000 BTC coins. Back then, each coin cost $0.03, and the two pizzas were worth $30. At the current BTC price of $8,000, the 10,000 coins used in purchasing those pizzas would be worth $800 million. Laszlo is of the view that using Bitcoin to buy pizzas for the first time probably made it real for some people as it shows the cryptocurrency’s potential as a usable currency.

Laszlo pointed out that he doesn’t think about the current market price of Bitcoin in relation to the pizzas he bought as such thoughts are not good for him. Since then, the cryptocurrency community has been celebrating the event, and it is one of the most popular celebrations in the crypto space.

The CEO of Huobi, Livio Weng, stated that although the idea started as a joke, they are excited about the upcoming event. The company’s Head of Marketing, Ross Zhang notified users that they expect demand to be high on that day. Thus, not everyone would get what they want, especially those in the second round.

https://twitter.com/livio_huobi/status/1128333120887853057

To qualify for this promo, users need to possess at least a thousand Huobi Token (HT) for a period of one week leading to the launch. Also, Huobi users that hold an average of 20,000 or more USDT tokens, or the same value in some selected cryptocurrencies including TOP, BTV, TT, and NEW.

Huobi Prime 3 Launch to Follow

Huobi will also launch the Reserve Rights Token (RSR) on Huobi Prime on May 22. The RSR is the support token for the payment-service-over-blockchain project Reserve. The RSR is designed to maintain the stability of Reserve Token (RSV), the USD-pegged stablecoin by Reserve. The primary aim of the mission is to create a universal store of value that would be useful, especially in regions that lack proper banking services.

The project is currently supported by Peter Thiel, Ran Neuner, Sam Altman, Mike Arrington, and some former team members at Tesla, Google, IBM, OpenAI, Impossible Foods, and MIRI.

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By CCN: Craig Wright has filed copyright registrations for the bitcoin whitepaper and the early Bitcoin code with the US Copyright Office. It’s the latest step in Craig Wright’s battle to prove he is bitcoin’s creator and the man behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

BITCOIN’S MYSTERIOUS CREATOR FINALLY REVEALED?

Since 2015, Craig Wright, chief scientist of nChain and proponent of Bitcoin SV, has repeatedly claimed he is the creator of the world’s largest cryptocurrency but has been unable to provide hard evidence.

Craig Wright filed a copyright registration for the Bitcoin whitepaper https://t.co/aIvg2BbmL2 pic.twitter.com/TVdU62TRRv

— Neeraj K. Agrawal (@NeerajKA) May 21, 2019

He was recently asked to provide a list of bitcoin addresses by a US court to back up his claims. A request he complied with, but the addresses were redacted on public release.

COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION FOR BITCOIN WHITEPAPER AND CODE

Wright has filed copyright registrations for the bitcoin white paper and most of the 0.1 version of Bitcoin’s early software. Below are the two registrations in full:

U.S. copyright registration no. TXu 2-136-996, effective date April 11, 2019, for the paper entitled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, with year of completion 2008. The registration recognizes the author as Craig Steven Wright, using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

U.S. copyright registration no. TX-8-708-058, effective date April 13, 2019, for computer program entitled Bitcoin, with year of completion 2009 and date of first publication January 3, 2009. The registration recognizes the author as Craig Steven Wright, using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Wright wrote most of version 0.1 of the Bitcoin client software, and the registration covers the portions he authored.


However, as the executive director of CoinCenter, Jerry Brito, points out, anyone can register a copyright claim. It’s not necessarily proof of ownership or recognition by the US Copyright Office itself.

Registering a copyright is just filing a form. The Copyright Office does not investigate the validity of the claim; they just register it. Unfortunately there is no official way to challenge a registration. If there are competing claims, the Office will just register all of them. https://t.co/YA70ALpG1Y

— Jerry Brito (@jerrybrito) May 21, 2019

A CONTROVERSIAL MOVE?

Despite the registration filing, many in the cryptocurrency community will still have their doubts about the validity.

Numerous bitcoin industry giants have slammed Wright as a “fraud” and labeled him “Faketoshi.” Wright has recently launched a series of lawsuits against his detractors and doubled down on his claims.

Master piece! You have my full support, Peter.

To be clear, I don't choose sides on technology. We let market do that. I am against fraud, such as lying to be someone. As such, it is my strong opinion that:

Craig Wright is fraud. https://t.co/f9ihSD6Pr3

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) April 15, 2019

Wright filed a libel lawsuit against bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack, seeking damages of $130,000. He also took aim at Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and threatened to reveal the identity of crypto influencer Hodlonaut.

The community kicked back, with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao delisting Wright’s Bitcoin SV from the exchange platform.

CRAIG WRIGHT: I AM SATOSHI

The copyright registration will act as new ammo for Wright to support his claim to the Satoshi name. He maintains that he wanted to create an honest system of cash and that Bitcoin SV is the true vision.

“In order to clear up some areas around my history as the creator of Bitcoin for people, I need to point out a few fallacies. Firstly, there is the fallacy that Satoshi acted in a particular way. The reality is that as Satoshi, I interacted with people who held views that differed from mine. In creating Bitcoin, I sought to create an honest and legally enforceable cash system. To be cash, that is to be money, Bitcoin needs to be neutral. It is not a system that is friendly to crime but a system that is friendly to most people. Such are people who act across the law in a variety of ways.”

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The current bull run on the crypto market is reflecting on many major cryptocurrencies, and Ethereum is no exception. Trading of Ethereum witnessed a record high of $900 million.

For the past four months, ETH has steadily increased, doubling from a low of just over $ 100 in February to its current price. It stopped at about $ 170 for April’s best part, however, as Bitcoin roared away with all the gains, raising its dominance to a high of 60 percent for 17 months.

Ethereum has been on the rise just as Bitcoin has so far risen to up to $ 270 before the current stagnation of the market. While a bull market is highly anticipated, especially for Bitcoin, the new trading growth achieved by Ethereum may indicate that it can be closer than expected.

The Coinbase weekly trading volume was the highest since 2017. From May 13-19 a total of 3,675,570 ETH units were traded on the two most popular ETH markets, which has a notional value of over $ 918 million at today’s market prices. At mid-December 2017, the most significant total of these units was a week.

When this upward trend ends, a disintegration normally occurs, and it is likely that it is on the upside with regard to the longer-term trend. However, the larger picture shows ETH at the top of the rising coin indicating strong strength at this level.

On a different end of the market, Matic Network, an Ethereum Scale Blockchain project, grew to 76% at a rate of $0.032 every day.

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Monero, an open-source cryptocurrency, is now available on the non-custodial, multiplatform wallet Guarda, as announced by the wallet on their twitter. Monero will be joining 10k tokens on the wallet among 40-plus blockchains.

The crypto exchange on the wallet is simple, seamless and secure. It allows you to convert one cryptocurrency to another in less time and with less hassle. Monero’s newfound identity on the wallet would mean that it could be on the leagues with the crypto giants like BTC.

Community-tested and approved wallet for @monero $XMR in multiple versions always available on https://t.co/tdMKs6ZqZJ

Besides, we are always looking for some extra feedback from our #Monero wallet users.
Have you got something to tell us? We'd love to hear your voices! pic.twitter.com/aDTsV11ZhO

— Guarda (@GuardaWallet) May 20, 2019

Guarda took to Twitter to ask it’s Monero wallet users if they had any questions or queries regarding it. This could very well be the best Monero wallet out there as the cryptocurrency scales upward. There’s value to be found by Monero in Guarda.

So far, only four other cryptocurrencies have had their wallets on Guarda namely Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ripple. They have reared the benefits of the wallet and are now moving further in the pipeline giving way to the newcomer Monero.

Monero’s placement among the big league is proof enough that it holds value and there’s more power in the token than meets the eye. In the coming weeks, there will be enough data to make concrete predictions about the state of Monero as compared to the other leading cryptocurrencies.

Is Monero Competitive Enough?

Having Monero on their wallet, definitely means that Guarda thinks that the token has potential, and the data present does show promise. Currently, there are 17 million Monero tokens in circulation. This is in spite of the more popular tokens in the market.

If things go better from here, Monero will be seeing the heights of an interesting hike as its price climbs. Although there was a dip in its price last year, this year has seen a constant rise in its price.

John McAfee, a well-known expert, and influencer in the crypto market has been constantly voicing his opinion that Monero has the potential to challenge Bitcoin in the long term. And seeing the surge in Bitcoin in the recent weeks, it feels a little too competitive to say that. He has been supporting Monero for a long time now.

It remains to be seen if there will be changes made in the technology that will enable Monero to have a competitive advantage over other tokens. Now that it is on Guardo, more people will be able to trade in the token, and if they find the experience better than other cryptocurrencies they trade in, they will surely start converting currencies to Monero.

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The Initial Exchange Offering has galvanized the crypto markets – but until a few days ago Bitfinex, which has endured a tumultuous few weeks, was surprisingly quiet on the subject. While Binance launched Matic and Celer, Bittrex canceled RAID, and exchanges across the globe hopped on a rapidly-accelerating bandwagon, innovation specialist iFinex was uncharacteristically silent.

That all changed with the announcement that Bitfinex itself raised a quick billion dollars in a 10-day private sale, before releasing their pidgin Latin Unus Sed Leo tokens to a mildly-bewildered mass audience.

But since Bitfinex appears to thrive on pressure (and that-whole-Tether-thing apparently isn’t enough) the crypto exchange is creating an entire IEO platform to launch other projects.

Tokinex is the new initiative, and in many ways it follows a formula that is becoming familiar throughout the crypto space. The exchange will offer projects that meet certain vetting criteria to customers who successfully pass KYC (in this case, via the Blockpass mobile app) and those customers can then purchase tokens ready for “frictionless trading on the secondary market”.

If you saw it before, you’ll love it when you see it again… but the déjà vu isn’t yet complete.

Like competitors including Binance Launchpad, Huobi Prime, and KuCoin Spotlight, Bitfinex is committed to providing virtually instant liquidity within a massive pool – and for contributors, that means no long wait for the wheel to spin. If the project is a hit, they’ll know almost instantly. They can fund their successful application for tokens directly from their own BTC wallets.

Never one to mince words, Bitfinex CEO Jean Louis van der Velde explained that “Tokinex brings the opportunity for anyone to participate in quality token sales in a fair environment, and for tokens to gain exposure to Bitfinex and Ethfinex users with no upfront cost.”

Aha!

There it is. Nestled away at the end of that sentence is – finally – a significant differentiator, and it is important.

While *some* exchanges have been charging for access to their IEO platforms, the iFinex family doesn’t plan to do so. And that may mean that the projects listed on Bitfinex / Ethfinex have a more democratic selection process, possibly depending less on the cash reserves of the business and more on its value to potential customers.

It may mean that. We hope it means that.

Will Harborne, Founder of Ethfinex, was a little more forthcoming, and told Crypto Briefing that “One of the founding tenants of Tokinex is to be the trusted home of token sales, and therefore it is key to empower participants with unbiased and credible information about each token. One of the ways in which we’ve done this is by providing access to comprehensive and entirely independent, third party research reports, the first of which is by respected industry experts, Smith and Crown.”

The true nature of Tokinex will be revealed later this week, when its first IEO project is announced on May 23rd for a June sale.

That should help to clear up whether Tokinex intends to be the Simba of IEO platforms – or the Scar.

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