Over the past few years, a fair few things have changed in the cryptocurrency industry. Currencies have come and gone, as have projects, blockchains, and noteworthy figures. One trend which will always remain is the cryptocurrency scam, in many different shapes and forms. One might start to wonder why such ventures remain so successful even in 2019, albeit a viable explanation is not hard to find.

The Clever Impersonation Scheme

While no one in this world should effectively be “influenced” by anyone when it comes to various cryptocurrencies, it seems these individuals tend to captivate a large audience. That doesn’t mean one shouldn’t pay attention to what individual X, Y, or Z is saying, but their opinions should never be taken to heart at face value. This is especially true when they are promoting a project or cryptocurrency, as those are often paid-for posts.

Scammers now all too well notorious industry individuals will attract a lot of attention. This is also why there are so many impersonators trying to trick gullible enthusiasts into giving up their cryptocurrency holdings. It has to be said, these impersonation attempts have become a lot more convincing as of late. Even so, it is often relatively easy to distinguish between real and fake. It does take a bit of effort, however.

Users Chase the Quick Buck

In this particular industry, there are numerous opportunities to make good money in rather quick succession. Although most of these methods are legitimate, nearly everyone wants a get-rich-quick solution that works for them. Cryptocurrency scammers often promise high returns or even free token airdrops, which will ultimately lead to a loss of funds for the user.

It is evident any project offering high returns, or even a return on the original investment for just “sending over funds”, is a pure scam. These projects are a dime a dozen and can easily be spotted. Unfortunately, it would appear a lot of cryptocurrency enthusiasts are more than keen on giving up their funds accordingly. After all, the promise only has to come true just once to strike it rich.

Hype is a Very big Problem

One thing crypto scammers seem to nail right on the head is how to get users hyped up about their project. In a lot of cases, victims are enticed to “invest now for a limited time” or how they will earn a “bonus of 10% if they invest more than X amount”. It is a very common and clever trick which is almost as old as the scam industry. Even in 2019, it can still make the difference between a successful or unsuccessful scam attempt.

Lack of Proper Research

Hand-in-hand with the three aspects above is the lack of research executed on behalf of potential victims. After all, people have been throwing money at any project which seems too good to be true. This was rather apparent during the ICO hype stage, and it seems the IEO industry will see a very similar trend. Very few projects will ever develop a worthwhile infrastructure, regardless of how much money the developers are given.

Considering how 90% of the ICO’s to date are either out of funds, exit scammed, or still do not have a working infrastructure, one would expect investors to have learned a valuable lesson. Given the current popularity of cryptocurrency scams, it is clear that is far from the case. One can only hope things will improve accordingly, but so far, it seems unlikely that any real change will occur.

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The secrets of a global phenomenon – crypto-world – is going to be revealed during Crypto Expo Asia, Singapore in Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre on the 26th of October. Experts, professionals, crypto-enthusiasts are ready to share their knowledge and to answer your essential questions about cryptocurrencies.

Educational speakers in the workshop and speaker halls are going to share out their experience and to answer important and vital questions about the crypto-world. Inside the large interactive exhibit hall every visitor will get the access to the newest crypto tools including the ones directly from fintech companies.

Not to mention that Crypto Expo Asia agenda is in line with the latest trends and developments of the industry and the expo-forum program is filled with entertainments, incredible shows, music, fantastic prizes and live performances.

Crypto Expo Asia is organized by FINEXPO, which is the largest company organizing financial and trading events, fairs, expos and shows worldwide since 2002. Over 30000 traders, investors and financial advisors and more than 3 000 financial companies and brokers from Forex, stock, option, bond crypto money and forward markets from all around the world have been connected by FINEXPO.

Our goal is to provide attendees with high-quality information, latest trends and brand-new techniques from the world of crypto and to make a modern basis for communication between companies and customers.

Make a reservation on the event web-site https://singapore.cryptoexpo.asia and get the access to the incredible flagship event in ASIA.

Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CryptoExpo.Asia/

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Google and their CORE update made a huge impact on the cryptocurrency community, with several websites recording low views and one major player even closing its doors following the update.

CCN or CryptoCoinsNews, announced on June 10 that it would shutdown owing to the June 3 Google Core update which saw the website’s traffic on mobile plummet by over 71 percent overnight. Citing data from Sistrix, an SEO analyzer, the visibility of the website dropped from 1.2 to 0.6 overnight.

Despite pestering the technological behemoth for a reply, CCN received none. However, a representative from Google did converse with Benjamin Pirus of Forbes.

On asked about the change in Google’s algorithm and the effect of the same, the representative stated that the update was implemented to “keep up with the fast-paced internet environment,” and that the search engine aims to provide “relevant results to those searching the web.”

The representative told Forbes,

“With any update, some sites might not perform as well as in the past, while other sites might perform better.”

Pirus added that the representative pointed to a seven month-old explanation from Google which stated that updates often result in “drops or gains,” and that the update will “benefit” those websites which were “under-rewarded.” The representative also shared information regarding webmaster page guidelines and community forums.

Google may not be directly responding to CCN at the moment, but the latter exclusively lays blame on the search engine for their closure. Jonas Borchgrevink, Founder of CCN, stated that with the drop in web traffic, their ad revenue dropped by over “90 percent.”

Borchgrevink said,

“This happened just after June 3rd and has been consistent after. None of our recent articles drew any significant traffic from Google this past week. We have never experienced that before.”

The Founder added that his team will migrate to HVY.com, and that other websites should also be “concerned,” about the CORE update affecting their traffic and revenue.

Other crypto-news media sites which are less dependent on ad revenue and more on certain subscription-based plans have not faced any significant drops, following the update. Mike Dudas from The Block attested to the same, stating that the update does ‘trouble’ him but by-and-large, they are not panicking. Coindesk called the update ‘insignificant.’

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Women have time and again defied the “traditional norms” imposed on them, becoming successful in revolutionizing different industries across the world. This has been more significant, if not drastic, over the past couple of decades. An effort towards integrating women in the tech field is also currently underway. However, the participation of women in the still nascent field of cryptocurrencies is still noticeably low, when compared to the participation of men.

According to a tweet posted by Jameson Lopp, a Bitcoin engineer and Chief Technology Officer of Casa, women engagement in the digital currency space has hit an all-time high. According to an image shared by the self-proclaimed ‘cypherpunk,’ women constitute nearly 10% of Bitcoin’s community.

Source: Jameson Lopp|Twitter

The graph above depicts a steady inflow of women into the space during the unprecedented boom of 2017. The figures however, shot up significantly during the first six months of 2018, coinciding with the time Bitcoin crashed and the crypto-asset lost about 65% of its value. In contrast, male participation constituted an astonishingly high percentage of 90%.

Source: Coin Dance

According to data provided by Long Hash, gender disparity at various levels in the blockchain ecosystem is massive. The industry thus, still has a long way ahead in terms of gender equality.

Source: Long Hash

Even as the figures hit an all-time high, the gender gap is still worse in Blockchain than any other tech field. In May 2018, Coin Dance charted a female engagement of 5.27%.

Source: Coin Dance

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Data by Statistica shows that Turkey has the highest levels of crypto adoption amongst its population when compared to other European nations. The market research firm report says that at least 18 percent of all Turks have crypto asset investments.

This percentage is twice higher than the European average and higher too than that of other countries in Europe. The only other countries that come close to Turkey in terms of average crypto adoption are Romania’s 12 percent, Poland’s 11 percent, and Spain’s 10 percent.

The Fall of The Lira

The Turkish Lira has been on free fall, losing most of its value against the USD as diplomatic tensions between the Eastern European nation and the US escalates. With its exports to the US facing sanctions, life is becoming difficult for the Turks.

They have taken to the hoarding USD and crypto to protect the value of their savings. In February, for instance, the Lira lost over 50 percent of its value against USD. The 80 million strong nation, which also is a vital ally of Nato, has had its currency in the doldrums for a long time.

The high levels of debt, combined with large amounts of government borrowing, have exacerbated very high levels of inflation. As grim as the Turkish economic downturn is, it has shed some light on the virtues of crypto. Bitcoin has picked up a lot of traction in Istanbul for instance, with over 30,000 Turkish users signing up at OKEx. According to Andy Cheung, the OKEx head of operations, the exchange expanded its offerings to Turkey in late March, and the response by the nationals has been extraordinary.

While talking to CoinDesk, Cheung says that the nation “has one of the most robust and promising crypto communities anywhere in the entire world.” The number of crypto users in turkey is rising so fast that Binance has also taken note of it.

In a tweet, their strategy officer gin_binance acknowledged that “Turkey is one of the best-case studies in crypto adoption.”

Cryptocurrencies Best Adoption Case

As an illustration, the Lira as far as 2019 data goes, accounts for at least 6 percent of the year’s current crypto fiat liquidity as per CoinMarketCap data. In 2018, it had the fifth most popular fiat to crypto pairs worldwide. The popularity of BTC in Turkey is also backed by Ozgur Guneri, the CEO BTCTurk a crypto exchange that also has on-boarded at least 30,000 new crypto users in 2019.

A survey done by the ING Bank’s media arm in 2018 showed that over 18percent of Turks owned BTC, with 45 percent of them being in it to Hodl. The happenings in Turkey are therefore a possible microcosm of events that will lead to the global dominance of Bitcoin over fiat, as global inflation rates keep rising.

Increasing Crypto and Bitcoin Awareness in the US

Elsewhere in the U.S, data from a survey by The Harris Poll done for Blockchain Capital shows that Bitcoin awareness has increased from 77 percent in 2017 to 89 percent in 2019. Millennials have the highest awareness rates at 90 percent while baby boomers have theirs at 88 percent. Consequently, it is now a paltry 11 percent of the American population that have not heard of Bitcoin.

Even more encouraging is the fact that despite Bitcoin’s fallen values from its 2017 high, 27percent of the respondents indicated that they will purchase BTC in the next five years a rise from the 19percent that showed interest in BTC in October 2017.

In fact, when asked in what they form they would prefer $1k in, 21 percent choose BTC to bonds, 17percent preferred BTC to stocks while 12percent would rather have BTC than gold.

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The chief of the Philippines central bank has warned over the risks of growing cryptocurrency use in the country.

On Monday, The Philippine Star quoted Benjamin Diokno, governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, as saying his institution would continue to address the use of cryptocurrencies, especially given the tech’s potential use in the funding of terrorism.

The central bank’s deputy governor, Diwa Guinigundo, also spoke of cryptocurrency’s limitations as a substitute for fiat money, as a medium of exchange and actual value.

And, while cryptos and blockchain can be useful for settlement, they effectively allow users to sidestep the banking system.

Guinigundo said:

“For this reason, game theory dictates possible dysfunction when there is market breakdown, when everyone may distrust one another. There cannot be a total disregard for a central bank or a third party that provides lender of last resort facility.”

To balance encouraging innovation with risk mitigation, the central bank prefers to use regulatory sandboxes to keep oversight of such new technologies, Guinigundo said.

The central bank execs’ warning comes as use of cryptocurrencies in the Philippines continue to rise. The PhilStar previously reported that virtual currency transactions in the Southeast Asian nation almost doubled from $189.18 million in 2017 to $390.37 million last year, based on data compiled by the central bank’s Technology Risk and Innovation Supervision Department.

Those transactions in the Philippines include conversions from Philippines pesos and other fiat currencies to cryptocurrencies and vice versa, as well as inbound international remittances facilitated through cryptocurrencies.

In response to the surge in use, the central bank in February 2017 issued a circular mandating cryptocurrency exchanges to register with the central bank as remittance and transfer companies, and further required these firms to set up safeguards to ensure consumer protection and counter illicit transactions such as money laundering and terrorist financing.

The central bank stressed that it does not intend to endorse any cryptocurrency, since it is neither issued or guaranteed by a central bank or backed by a commodity. Nevertheless, the institution said it aims to regulate the tech when used for delivery of financial services, particularly for payments and remittances, to ensure consumer protection and financial stability.

To date, 10 exchanges in the Philippines have been registered with the central bank.

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The research organization Data Foundation and IT firm Booz Allen Hamilton have published a report with five proposed questions to guide the United States federal government on where and how to implement blockchain initiatives.

Their research was published in the report “Bringing Blockchain Into Government: A Path Forward for Creating Effective Federal Blockchain Initiatives” on June 10.

According to the report, blockchain solutions make the most sense when applied to some sort of procedure with a predetermined level of consistency and a low level of agility, assuming that the immutable ledger provided by blockchain is valuable for the task in the first place.

The report lists five questions they came up with for how a federal organization can decide whether a blockchain solution makes sense:

“1. Does the blockchain offer a real benefit for information security, trust, or transparency? … 2. Can blockchain be practically and efficiently applied? … 3. What blockchain design is most appropriate? … 4. Is the cost of applying blockchain merited relative to information gains? … 5. Does the application satisfy applicable data sharing and confidentiality laws?”

In coming up with these criteria, the organizations looked at seven instances of blockchain initiatives at the federal level that they deemed successful.

The report noted several blockchain-based initiatives across various agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Treasury and the Department of Defense, among others.

The report notes that the programs are in varying stages of success and development. The researchers conclude that, “Whether blockchain will ultimately prove a success in government is yet to be seen. But for now, applying blockchain for government programs and operations should be a welcome development when possible.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the FDA launched a pilot program using blockchain tech as a supply chain tracker for pharmaceuticals in February. The Pilot Project Program Under the Drug Supply Chain Security Act is specifically focused on tracking drugs and preventing pharma counterfeiting.

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United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based crypto asset exchange and custodian Arabian Bourse (ABX) — a joint venture from GMEX Group and Arshad Khan — has received initial regulatory approval from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The news was reported by financial news website Markets Media on June 6.

GMEX Group is a set of firms offering multi-asset exchange trading, post trade infrastructure and business and technology solutions. The Arabian Bourse project — established together with  regional exchanges founder Arshad Khan — aims to serve as a compliant, fully-regulated crypto asset exchange and custodian with a focus on international institutional and retail traders.

According to Markets Mediz, ABX implements technology from GMEX Group’s blockchain business, specifically its suite of “hybrid centralized and blockchain distributed ledger technology solutions,” dubbed GMEX Fusion.

GMEX Group and Arshad Khan are reportedly developing ABX as an “integrated ecosystem for crypto assets listing, trading and settlement with associated digital custody, depository and data services.” The forthcoming ecosystem will aim to bridge crypto activity in the Middle East and Northern Africa with other international crypto centers.

ABX is to be based in the Abu Dhabi Global Market Authorities Building — reportedly in order to benefit from the city’s proactive crypto asset regulatory framework, high concentration of international financial institutions, and the ostensibly rapidly developing crypto asset industry in the wider region.

As Cointelegraph has previously reported,  UAE-based cryptocurrency exchange BitOasis secured preliminary approval with financial regulators in mid-May of this year.

Data released by CoinSchedule this April indicated that the UAE had been the world’s biggest contributor to crypto token sales since the start of 2019 (raising over 25% of funds, or $210.5 million.

In September 2018, Richard Teng — head of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of the ADGM, had called for more robust international regulation of cryptocurrencies, noting that “every time a coin gets stolen or lost, it affects the confidence in this asset class.”

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