​​Venezuelan cryptocurrency on the first day of sales raised $ 735 million and is switching from Ethereum to NEM

Preliminary sales of the cryptocurrency El Petro, launched by Venezuela, on the first day reached $ 735 million. Who became the investor of this project is still unknown. Although the release of the token was originally planned on the Ethereum platform, now the Blockchain El Petro will be the Chinese NEM platform.

President of Venezuela Nicholas Maduro has already stated that Venezuelan companies PDVSA, Pequiven and CVG should make part of their transactions in the national cryptocurrency. It will also be able to pay tourists.

Under the order of Maduro, 100 million El Petro tokens, provided with Venezuelan oil at the rate of one token per barrel, will be produced. The main goal of creating its own cryptocurrency is to circumvent the economic sanctions imposed by the United States.

​​Omise has signed a cooperation agreement with the government of Thailand

Omise, a cryptocurrency company that issues OmiseGo tokens, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Thai Ministry for Digital Affairs. As part of this document, the parties will jointly develop a national digital identity verification system and an online payment platform. The Thai government wants to use OmiseGo technology to issue digital identity cards for citizens.

Omise is active in the South-East Asia market. Now she is cooperating with 550 large Asian corporations. Although some experts believe that OmiseGo will not be able to scale enough to ensure the work of the state blockchain, the developers themselves assure the contrary.

While news of cooperation with the Thai government has not affected the rate of the OmiseGo token. However, in the coming days, it makes sense to wait for a positive response from crypto-exchangers to a promising agreement.

​​Cardano is challenging Ethereum and Bitcoin

Cardano is a blockchain platform launched by Blockchain Development Output Hong Kong (IOHK), led by former co-founder BitShares and Ethereum Charles Hoskinson. The platform is aimed at launching smart-contracts, decentralized applications and blockchains.

Cryptocurrency of ADA platform went up sharp at the end of 2017 from $ 0.03 and reached a peak of $ 1.24 in early 2018, that is, it increased more than 40 times. After this, a small rollback followed.

Now Cardano has new plans. On February 28, a meeting with investors will be held in London, where the team will present a new roadmap. Charles Hoskinson has already stated that in six months or a year Cardano “will be pound-for-pound better than Ethereum and Bitcoin in every dimension and aspect, just based on how our roadmap is rolling out. That’s just generation one”.

​​📅ICO for the upcoming week 🚀

2️⃣6️⃣ February
🔷Bizavest Analytics - Bizavest Analytics is the first data analytics and business intelligence service driven by data collection and mining over a decentralized network.
🔷ICloudSec - The first ever cloud-based network security model using blockchain.
🔷Cryptopus - IPFS-based, open sourse blockchain brokerage marketplace.

2️⃣7️⃣ February
🔷Qurrex (pre-ICO) - The first hybrid crypto exchange integrating industrial infrastructure of traditional stock exchanges with decentralized network.
🔷TokenGo - A Fair Rewarfing, Powered Blockchain Based, Business Tokenization Platform.
🔷Gron Digital - Gambling & Betting Ecosystem on the Blockchain.

2️⃣8️⃣ February
🔷The Moonlite Project - The MoonLite Project ICO will fund a new-generation, industrial scale cryptomining operation focused on profitability by using low cost and clean energy sources and efficiency through Artificial Intelligence and Custom Algorithms.
🔷Geekzcode Crowdfunding Token Event - A Crowdfunding Token Event for the completion of our platform,bringing together Businesses/End-users that need Software or Apps created.
🔷BlockMesh - BlockMesh’s vision is to create the world's first decentralised, cost-free communications network.

1️⃣ March
🔷JOYSO JOYSO suggests a hybrid design for token trading, combining the advantages of a centralized exchange - fast and fully-featured - with the advantages of a decentralized exchange - improved security and privacy.
🔷Baappay (pre-ICO) - BaapPay is a multi-layered platform that integrates both fiat and cryptocurrency payment services for merchants, that will confirm and guarantee all payments in seconds.
🔷Yield Coin - Yield Coin is a diverse multipurpose token pegged to a group of businesses structured in different sectors, creating one of the only non-single point of failure tokens, backed by Finance and Banking experts.

2️⃣ March
🔷BHOM - P2P Housing Transaction Platform using Blockchain DApp.
🔷Onyx futures exchange - The ONYX token presents a commission-free Futures exchange that covers operational costs by yearly coin offerings based on the number of contract created for the previous year and the current years’ token value, instead of charging fees for each trade.
🔷Legacy Lotto - Decentralized world wide lottery offering ticket mining and self executing smart contracts.

3️⃣ March
🔷PAYSURA - PAYSURA is providing the International PayReward Coin (IPC) in order to create a worldwide uniform reward system that applies the advantages of the Blockchain Technology.
🔷THEFANDOME (pre-ICO) - Running fandom platform for Geeks, Fans, and Entertainment Business worldwide with immersive fanmanagement, objective advertising statistics, and utility token provision.
🔷Nkor - Solving copyright issues forever.

4️⃣ March
🔷AMON - Crypto Debit Card for Everyday Use.
🔷Neumcoin - The Currency To Empower Digital Transactions.
🔷Conn3x - Conn3x strives to be the leading company in the job marketplace thanks to latest blockchain technology and the usage of artificial intelligence.

​​State of Georgia, following Arizona, will allow citizens to pay taxes using cryptocurrency

Residents of the US state of Georgia will soon be able to pay taxes, duties and fees using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Such a proposal was made by senators from the Republican Party of the United States.

Georgia could become the second state after Arizona with a legalized ability to pay taxes in cryptocurrencies. In Georgia, Bitpay and Bitfury are registered, over 100 bitcoinATMs are installed across the state. Many locals are involved in the crypto industry.

Initiatives of the US states are taking place against the backdrop of close attention to the crypto-investors from the tax authorities. A few days ago, the Coinbase exchange handed over 13,000 users to tax authorities who allegedly did not pay taxes on transactions.

The issue of taxing cryptocurrency transactions is considered in different countries. The mechanisms are developed by Korea, Japan, Austria, Great Britain, Russia and other states. And Uzbekistan, a country with a closed economy, recently announced its readiness to fully legalize cryptocurrencies by summer.

📅 Calendar of important events for this week📅 :

📌 February 26th:
- Official public launch of LitePay;
- VeChain rebranding;
- AdEx (ADX) platform beta release;
- DENT for Android will be released at the Mobile World Congress 2018;
- 0x (ZRX) gets listed on Koinex;
- IOTA Cologne Meetup, Germany;

📌 February 27th:
- Coindash (CDT) platform public release;
- Stellar (XLM) Seoul Meetup, South Korea
- INXT: X Cloud Alpha release;
- Bankex: Listing on OKEx;
- Polymath: POLYCON 2018 in Nassau, Bahamas;
- BTC: Mainnet Launch;

📌 February 28th:
- LELE Free airdop: Every IGNIS holders will receive LELE tokens of supported exchanges. 10 IGNIS : 1 LELE;
- Coinsquare (Fiat exchange) will add Ripple ;
- Airdrop of IQ tokens using the EOS distribution list;
- Rise snapshot will happen on the last day of every month and will last 6 months. Starting on 31st January 2018, 5 million LETS (Interlet Tokens) will be allocated at each snapshot;
- Kickcoin (KICK) -13.5% of kickcoin coins will be burned;
- Electroneum (ETN) - GUI wallet release;
- Red Pulse (RPX) will be listed on another Korean exchange;
- Waltonchain (WTC): releases of master nodes;
- HitBTC exchange is going to list PCOIN;

📌 March 1st:
- PACcoin (PAC) - Coin Swap. The ratio for redemption will be 1000:1 or 1000 current PacCoins for 1 new PacCoin on the new blockchain & code fork;
- Nxt (NXT) Official token distribution event (Airdrop) scheduled to commence on March 1st, 2018;
- NEO will airdrop ONT to the community. The airdrop is supported by binance;
- Oyster (PRL): will burn ~10 million PRL;
- Mooncoin (MOON): hardfork;
- PoSW Coin (POSW): Coin Swap from POSW to XSN (StakeNet);
- LeviarCoin (XLC) — Hard Fork and Codebase Change;
-DASH: International Blockchain Summit in Moscow, Russia;
- CTX - CarTaxi App release;

📌 March 2nd:
- Bitcoin Private Fork 1:1 ratio for every ZCL+BTC;
- Influxcoin (INFX) will be delisted from Bittrex;
- Zilliqa Taipei Meetup, Taiwan;
- NEO Singapore Meetup;
- OmiseGo: EDCON in Toronto, Canada;

📌 March 3d:
- Humaniq (HMQ): New Product Launch;
- Crypto Con 2018;
- Crown Miami Meetup, USA;

📌 March 4th:
- FACTOM will attend Lenders One - a mortgage cooperative;
- The COSS token will go through an upgrade to become an ERC223 token on Sunday 4th of March;
- Waves Berlin Meetup, Germany;
- Cardano Roadmap Update;

​​The new Bitcoin Private hardfork will be based on Bitcoin and Zclassic

The next Bitcoin hardfork should be held on February 28. The new cryptocurrency will be named Bitcoin Private (BTCP) and will support the zk-SNARK anonymity protocol on the basis of the zero disclosure proof. Simultaneously with the Bitcoin hardfork, the ZCLassic cryptocurrency will be powered - the fork of the anonymous cryptocurrency ZCash. That is Bitcoin Private will be based immediately on two blockchains.

All Bitcoin and Zclassic holders will receive coins in a 1: 1 ratio. Also BTCP can be mined on video cards with the help of POW-algorithm. The block size is 2 mb, the new block will be generated every 2.5 minutes.

It is already known that Bitcoin Private will support the Coinomi wallet and the HitBTC and TradeSatoshi exchangers.

The main developer of the project is the creator of Zclassic and WhaleCoin Rhett Creighton. In his team there are about 70 developers.

It is noted, that recently Europol expressed concern over the growing popularity of anonymous cryptocurrencies Monero, ZCash and Dash among criminals.

​​In Germany, cryptocurrencies will not be taxed as payment means

In Germany, cryptocurrencies were determined with taxation. According to the document published by the German Ministry of Finance, crypto-
currencies will not be taxed if they participate in the transaction as payment means.

Cryptocurrencies are defined as the equivalent of legal means of payment, since they represent an alternative contractual method of payment, occurring as soon as possible. In accordance with the decision of the European Court of the Value Added Tax (VAT) of 2015, payment of goods by cryptocurrencies will be subject to VAT at the current exchange rate.

Thus, Germany has taken a different path than the US, where cryptocurrencies are recognized as taxable property, so the purchase for them is regarded as a sale of property and may be subject to an additional tax.

In the European Union, German experience can become a precedent for other countries, especially since the EU leadership intends to work out general rules for the regulation of the cryptocurrency market.

​​In 2017, miners bought 3 million video cards for $ 776 million

In 2017, 3 million video cards were sold for just $ 776 million, research firm Jon Peddie Research is reporting.

In the fourth quarter, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was able to increase its share in the video card market from 27.2% to 33.7%, while Nvidia's share dropped from 72% to 66%. This is due to the fact that AMD cards with a similar performance are cheaper than those of Nvidia, so they were popular among miners.

At the same time, the main engine for trading video cards is still computer games. Moreover, analysts are expecting in 2018 the drop in demand for video cards among the miners, as this method is becoming more expensive.

ICO calendar for the upcoming week 🚀

5️⃣ March
🔷Datarius Cryptobank (https://goo.gl/UhqLuW) - Datarius cryptobank is a decentralized partially closed system. Serves as a direct link between lenders, borrowers, and the related services – managers, analysts, insurance companies, funds, trading terminals.
🔷Baltic.fund - Invest in promising CEE & CIS Startups and Ecosystem via Baltic Blockchain Fund.
🔷Starflow (pre-ICO) - A blockchain-powered ecosystem for the influencer economy.

6️⃣ March
🔷Obirum - Obirum is the world's first blockchain browser with a wallet simple and secure.
🔷RepuX - Decentralized Data & Applications Platform for Companies and Developers.

7️⃣ March
🔷The Abyss - The Abyss is a next-generation gaming platform.
🔷Vesa Token (pre-ICO) - Vesa is a fintech startup that allows newbie investors effectively earn on cryptocurrency rates.

8️⃣ March
🔷Multiven - Defending Bitcoin and public blockchain network nodes against cyberattacks, powered by the world's first blockchain-based open marketplace for IT hardware, software and services.
🔷Bills - Bills is a technology that allows placing advertisements to an outdoor billboard located in any place of the world, within a couple of minutes without even leaving the office.
🔷PHI TOKEN - Hybrid platform for investments.

9️⃣ March
🔷Coinvest - The world’s first decentralized investment trading market for cryptocurrencies.
🔷Assistive Reality - Assistive Reality are releasing amazing Augmented Reality apps on Google Play and Apple Store in 2018, and will use ARX tokens to power the apps, content and experiences including real-world AR zones.

🔟 March
🔷Zupply - Zupply is the new Supply BlockChain system for the new Era in industrial sector.
🔷TimeBox - Decentralized custody service of digital assets.
🔷Akaiito - Akaiito is P2P platform functioning on blockchain system and giving to every crypto holder opportunity to spend their crypto in everyday life.

1️⃣1️⃣ March
🔷OnLive - An open and decentralized platform for video broadcast and remote consultations markets.

Monero VS Ethereum

Monero and Ethereum do not resemble each other and serve different purposes. However, both are among the ten largest cryptocurrencies and are the object of attention from investors. Which сryptocurrency is better?

Ethereum - the second by the capitalization cryptocurrency, connected with the main platform for today's smart-contracts. Despite the fact that "Ethereum killers" appear regularly, no other site has been able to circumvent the Ethereum smart-contracts. On the other hand, Ethereum is an attractive target for hacker attacks, several of which were successful. Recently, the course of the cryptocurrency is tending to go down. And by the volume of trading in the last 24 hours it was bypassed by Ripple.

Monero is one of the anonymous cryptocurrency. The optional encryption protocol makes it almost impossible to track transaction participants. In addition, in mid-March, MoneroV's hardfork is expected, in which for each Monero coin users will receive 10 coins of a new, even more secure cryptocurrency. The growth of Monero in recent weeks is largely due to the upcoming hardfork, which investors want to earn. It is possible that after this the Monero rate will dramatically go down.

On one side of the scale are smart-contracts and the need to strengthen security. On the other - fast hardfork and anonymity of transactions. Where to move on-is up to you.

Asian crypto-exchangers earn millions of dollars per day

Crypto-exchangers are the most profitable element in the ecosystem of the cryptocurrency market: according to Bloomberg analysts, the largest crypto-exchangers can earn more than $ 1 billion a year. At the same time, more than half of the world trade in cryptocurrencies occurs on Asian exchanges.

For example, two leaders - the Tokyo Binance and the Hong Kong OKEx carry out transactions amounting to about $ 1.7 billion each per day. The Binance commission is 0.2%, so that the Tokyo crypto-exchanger daily earns about $ 3.5 million. The OKEx exchange with a lower commission earns more than $ 1.2 million.

The Huobi, Bitfinex, Upbit and Bithumb exchangers are also in Asia. They process from $ 600 million to $ 1.4 billion with an average commission of 0.3%. At the same time, Urbit's profit is almost equal to Binance, while Huobi is estimated at about $ 1.9 million.

China is banning accounts of crypto-exchangers in social networks

Chinese regulators are blocking crypto-exchangers accounts in local social networks. According to Chinese media, in particular, the OKEx crypto-exchanger account is blocked in the most popular WeChat messenger.

The reason for the blocking was the violation of Chinese law: after the ban of ICO, the Chinese company OKCoin transferred its trading platform abroad, but continues to serve customers in China through the OKEx site, including through social networks. Regulators also are planning to block the IP addresses of foreign crypto-exchangers.

It is noted, that today the Russian Internet giant MailRu Group announced that in the social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki one can pay for advertising with Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. In turn, Facebook in late 2017 banned advertising of cryptocurrencies and ICO because of the large amount of scam.

Japanese banks are launching a payment application on Ripple's blockchain

Japanese SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank and Resona Bank in the autumn are planning to launch a smartphone application called MoneyTap, which will run on the Ripple's blockchain. All three banks are members of a Japanese banking consortium led by SBI Ripple Asia, a joint venture between Ripple and the financial giant SBI Holdings.

As noted in Ripple, the new application will allow customers of these banks to conduct internal transactions 24 hours a day and seven days a week without the usual time restrictions imposed by traditional bank transfers. To do this, you can use your bank account number, phone number or QR code.

Now the application is under testing. After, its launch is planned in other 61 Japanese member banks of the consortium.

FSA suspended the work of two crypto-exchangers in Japan

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) on Thursday suspended the operation of the crypto-exchanger FSHO and Bit Station for a month. The reason was the results of the audit, during which the regulatory body found a number of violations in ensuring the safety of the work of exchangers.

FSA also issued warnings to crypto-exchangers Coincheck, Tech Bureau Corp., Tokyo-based GMO Coin Inc., Tokyo-based Bicrements Inc. and Fukuoka-based Mr. Exchange Inc. All five companies must submit plans to improve internal systems for monitoring money laundering and criminal operations with cryptocurrencies until March 22, otherwise their work may also be suspended.

This is the first decision of the Japanese regulator to suspend the operation of crypto-exchangers. The reason for the global verification was a major hacker attack on Coincheck in late January, during which NEM tokens valued at $ 530 million were stolen.

The market reacted negatively to the decision of the FSA. Most of the cryptocurrencies have lost in price.

Why bitcoin fell below $ 9,000

The price of bitcoin fell below $ 9,000, losing 24% in the price over the past three days. Only in the last 24 hours the drop was 12%. Now it is trading at $ 8,796.68 against the latest peak at $ 11,767 on 20 February.

Among the possible reasons for the decline are the actions of financial regulators from the US and Japan, as well as a large sale of cryptocurrency by the closed Japanese exchanger Mt. Gox.

First Wednesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission reported that exchanges offering trade in "digital assets that are securities" will have to register with the agency. This statement was preceded by several weeks of pressure on the crypto-exchangers with SECs.

In Japan, on Thursday, Financial Services Agency suspended the operation of two BitTorrent and FSHO cryptographic exchanges for a month due to violation of safety standards, and also issued a warning to five more crypto-exchangers. Trustee of another Japanese crypto-exchanger Mt. Gox, which went bankrupt in 2014, yesterday sold Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash for $ 400 million to pay off the exchanger's debts.

​​What are the market expectations after the G20?

The meeting of the G20 leaders will be held on March 19-20 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The cryptocurrency market is waiting for this event with impatience, since the regulation of the cryptocurrency should become one of the topics for discussion of representatives of the world's largest economies.

The financial regulators of Germany, France and Japan have already expressed their desire to discuss cryptocurrencies. All countries recognize the potential problems of cryptocurrencies related to the protection of consumers and investors, tax evasion, money laundering and the financing of terrorism. However, the views on regulation of the industry are different for all.

China opposes crypto-market. South Korea and Japan are trying to find new ways to regulate the young industry. The US uses the current legislation for this, which is not always successful. Even within the European Union there is no consensus on this issue: while Germany recognizes bitcoin as a mean of payment, in Britain they say about the need to stop this "anarchy".

G20 countries are unlikely to come to a single common opinion. But this meeting will not pass without a trace for cryptocurrency market. Yesterday's statement by the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, which provoked the drop in the market, clearly shows this.

​​Is Ripple waiting for its soon drop ?

While everyone shares positive news about the new achievements of Ripple, the real fate of the cryptocurrency is solved in the judicial walls. Soon, the New York court will consider the claim of the company R3 against Ripple, following which R3 can receive 12.5% ​​of the total volume of XRP, which is in circulation.

The conflict between the companies began after they could not agree on a partnership. By that time, an agreement had already been signed, according to which R3 obtained the right to buy out 5 billion XRP tokens at a price of $ 0.0085 by the end of 2019. Ripple Labs tried to terminate the contract unilaterally, which led to a lawsuit from R3. Ripple filed a counterclaim in San Francisco, but the court rejected him. Now the last decision is up to the court in New York.

If the decision is made in favor of R3, the company will receive 5 billion XRP tokens, which at current rates cost about $ 3.5 billion, at a price of only $ 42 million. In this case, the market will respond with a sharp drop in the cryptocurrency, which is now considered one of the most promising.

📅ICO calendar for the upcoming week 🚀

1️⃣9️⃣ March
🔷Crypterra - Building independent decentralized ecosystem infrastructure for cryptocurrency with own islands.
🔷ARQUTE G.A.S. (pre-ICO) - ARQUTE G.A.S – animation studio based on blockchain technology, in which every token contains the copyright’s to intellectual property.
🔷SprintX (pre-ICO) - SprintX will become the quality standard and reliability for launching ICOs.

2️⃣0️⃣ March
🔷Bubbletone - Blockchain in Telecom is the first decentralized telecom ecosystem that allows mobile network operators, phone users and service providers to interact directly.
🔷XchangeRate (pre-ICO) - The first Augmented Intelligence platform SaaS App that brings intelligently analysed data to the trader using automation and decentralized strategy sharing.
🔷Vooglue - To be the preferred provider of art ecosystem enablers for permanently connecting digital media and eCommerce counterparts to physical art.

2️⃣1️⃣ March
🔷ySign - ySign is a new blockchain-based messaging platform for free communication and discrete conversations with 100% privacy, created as an opportunity to stay anonymous and secure.
🔷Robotina - Robotina - Internet Of Things, Artificial Intelligence & Blockchain empowering energy consumers.
🔷Mossland- “Mossland” is a location-based Augmented Reality(AR) mobile game.

2️⃣2️⃣ March
🔷PumaPay - a comprehensive billing protocol that combines the best of traditional payment methods.
🔷Lapo (pre-ICO) - Decentralized finance reinvented.

2️⃣3️⃣ March
🔷FolleX - The combination of a powerful global Cryptocurrency Exchange and interactive Social Media platform.
🔷UbiatarPlay - UbiatarPlay as cryptocurrency to be everywhere.

2️⃣4️⃣ March
🔷Pycoin - Pycoin is a privacy preserving zero-knowledge protocol-based decentralized platform for writing, testing and deploying mathematically verifiable secure smart- contracts.
🔷Morpheus Labs - Powerful inclusive full stack Blockchain-Platform-As-a-Service for Enterprises.

2️⃣5️⃣ March
🔷BitBix - an open decentralized cryptocurrency, built on the innovative Ethereum blockchain.