This morning the USD/BTC Bitcoin pairing crashed in a significant way, showing that even the digital currency is not immune to COVID-19 panic*. COVID-19 is the official name of novel coronavirus, the disease that's spread from the Wuhan province of China across the planet over the past several weeks and months. Bitcoin crashed from around $8k to under $6k in the past 24 hours.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced a team of "up to 5" people would develop an "open and decentralized standard for social media." The "ultimate goal" for this system would be for Twitter to be "a client of this standard." Dorsey suggested that though Twitter started as a relatively open system for social networking, they became centralized, but "a lot's changed over the years..."
In May of this year, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig made a comment about releasing future guidance on the taxation of cryptocurrency in the USA. Today that guidance was revealed. This is the first guidance released by the IRS on this subject since their relatively thin set of comments on the matter all the way back in the year 2014. A lot has changed in cryptocurrency since the year 2014, including the two most major rises and falls of Bitcoin since the dawn of the blockchain.
The app Haven was launched today for Android and iOS. Haven was launched as the official mobile app for the peer-to-peer sales site OpenBazaar. OpenBazaar is an Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba alternative devoid of data collection and fees. Haven allows users to connect with OpenBazaar on Android devices, iPhone, and iPad, and it's all free. Could such an idyllic system be real? NOTE: I need to be CLEAR here - I am equal parts surprised that this system could exist AND skeptical that it's actually real. Let's investigate together!
If you take a peek at the price of Bitcoin vs USD, then look at where NVIDIA is in the NASDAQ, you might draw some conclusions. While it's not been NVIDIA GPUs, but AMD GPUs that've appeared to have been used the most for cryptocurrency mining in the recent past, their fortunes seem linked. As we re-enter a bull season in cryptocurrency in general, NVIDIA's just announced they've beat earnings expectations for this most recent quarter.
A number of major retailers, including Whole Foods and Bed Bath & Beyond, now accept Bitcoin payments made with the Flexa SPEDN app. A total of 15 retailers are accepting the cryptocurrency payment method, which also includes the Bitcoin alternatives Gemini Dollars, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum. Flexa's app is currently available for iPhone and will arrive on Android in the near future.
The first of the partners were tipped teaming up with the Samsung Blockchain Keystore this week just days after the big Galaxy S10 event. Details leaked in promotional images and from sources apparently speaking directly to Samsung's higher-ups in South Korea. One of the biggest of these tipped groups was the gaming-focused Enjin. Enjin Coin is a smart cryptocurrency (not unlike most cryptocurrencies) that "fuels" tokenized gaming assets.
Interest in the world of cryptocurrency might well get a boost thanks to Samsung's next smartphone. In this next-generation smartphone, it's been revealed that Samsung MAY be releasing its own cryptocurrency wallet. This wallet was teased today as having the ability to act as a "secure and convenient place for your cryptocurrency."
Coinme, a company that offers bitcoin ATMs, has teamed up with Coinstar to make it easier to get your hands on the digital currency. Under the new partnership, Coinstar machines will allow users to swap their cash for bitcoin, bringing the cryptocurrency to one's local grocery store or convenience shop. After inserting money into the machine, Coinstar users get a voucher for bitcoin.
Analysts weighed in this week on signals for the return of Bitcoin to cash money prominence. While it would appear that Bitcoin reached its floor at around $3,500 USD, there's a whole lot of doubt in the market after the most major drop in the history of cryptocurrency - the fall of January 2018. Volume appeared en masse at the drop from $6k to $3k, but not in a way that necessarily suggested Bitcoin-specific accumulation was about to appear out of thin air.
A new set of programs was introduced this week by Razer to entice users with Razer Silver. One of these programs is Razer SoftMiner, a desktop app that Razer suggests "utilizes the idle GPU processing power of gamers’ battle stations to solve complex blockchain-based puzzles on the back-end." Wow, you might be saying, that's cool that Razer made a Bitcoin Miner so people can easily earn cryptocurrency on their home PC - but it's not quite that simple.
Ohio has become the first state to accept tax payments in the form of Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency, though not as valuable as it once was, continues to be a popular cash alternative; it's accepted by a number of online retailers and now, in at least one state, as a currency for paying tax debt. The new support went live today and covers 23 different tax debt categories.