The former CEO of reported cryptocurrency scam AriseBank has pleaded guilty to defrauding victims of over $4.2 million, Texas-based daily news outlet Dallas News reported March 21.
Jared Rice, whom the FBI arrested over securities and wire fraud in November last year, confessed to his activities, according to an announcement by the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Erin Nealy Cox. Rice had allegedly falsely claimed that AriseBank could offer customers “FDIC-insured accounts and traditional banking services, including Visa-brand credit and debit cards, in addition to cryptocurrency services.”
The announcement, seen by Dallas News, reportedly shows that Rice specifically entered a guilty plea for one count of securities fraud, implicating him in lying to investors of AriseBank while it operated. In total, AriseBank seized $4,250,000 from participants, which Rice may now have to repay in full. He will return to court for sentencing in July.

Binance released a report, including an exploration of relationships between Bitcoin and other large cap digital assets. Key points are as follows:
1. USD returns for the top 30 cryptoassets by market cap were highly correlated over the past 3 months (1 Dec 2018 - 1 Mar 2019). Bitcoin (BTC) exhibited the highest correlation with other assets indicating that it is the bellwether of the industry.
2. BTC-denominated returns for large market cap cryptoassets exhibited significantly lower correlations than USD-denominated returns over the same period.
3. Correlations of cryptoasset returns in BTC terms in late 2018 were much lower compared to late 2017.
4. In contrast, correlation between cryptoasset returns in USD terms actually increased when comparing the same two periods. This has coincided with the rise of stablecoins pair dominance during 2018 and is in line with the overall decline in the contribution of BTC pairs to total industry trade volume.
5. Similar to equity markets, idiosyncratic factors influence the correlation of some coins over specific time periods.
6. Additional factors beyond project-specific news & catalysts may influence the strength of correlations among cryptoassets.
Click 'Read More' for the whole report.

Bitcoin.com is introducing a feature called Local Bitcoin Cash, a service that facilitates the peer-to-peer trading of local currency for bitcoin cash (BCH). The new service will be launching soon and users will be able to directly exchange BCH securely and without know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.

It's hard for BTC to continue its trend without a breakout of its price. In line with BTC's adjustment, ETH, the second largest cryptocurrency, faces the same problem.
Monitored by RatingToken, the correlation coefficient of the price trend of BTC and ETH is 94.08% within one month, 89.59% within three months, 88.68% within six months, and 86.72% within one year. The high correlation also indicates that investors share the same view in the bearish market, which is also a major signal that the market will change. In the absence of sustained and positive news, the performance of large cryptocurrencies has become very consistent, longing for a breakthrough in price.
On the daily chart of BTC, with the decreasing price fluctuations, the ROC indicator shows a weak price trend. The ROC now is lower than its average line, indicating that the profitability of the long-term investors is extremely poor. Even in this case, the BTC price still remains near the upper line of the Bollinger Bands. However, the upper and lower bands are slightly apart, having not released a signal of breakout.
On the daily chart of ETH, the ROC indicator closing to the 0-axis means that ETH buyers have not earned more profits than BTC buyers. In fact, ETH boasts a very high correlation with BTC, which implies that most of large cryptocurrencies will be leaders in a breakthrough in price.
Optimistically, most investors are still bullish in the short term. However, it is noteworthy that market may not develop in accordance with their ideas.
At press time, BTC marks $3,971.81 USDT (-1.14%) on Binance; ETH marks $134.72 USDT (-2.67%) on Binance.

A longstanding big blocker, a Bitcoin Cash developer and a “founding” member of Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) has resigned his membership of BU over what he says is a muted response to a lawsuit by apparent BSV supporters.
Antony Zegers says: "I have decided that I would no longer like to be a member of Bitcoin Unlimited. The reason is that I feel Bitcoin Unlimited, as an organization, is too closely associated with the Bitcoin SV community…"

After sinking to a new 24h low of $3,880 USDT, BTC jumped back to the $3,960 level again. It currently sees a decrease of 1.50%, with the price marking $3,962 USDT on Binance.
Noticeably, there is a gap of $189 USDT between BTC’s 24h high and low in the past two hours and 24 minutes.
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CoinNess Market Index shows that BTC dropped by 1.04% within 5 minutes. BTC currently marks $3938.00 on Binance.
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BTC dropped to a new 24h low of $3,966.49 USDT after making a new high of $4,069.32 USDT on Binance two hours ago at 12:30 (UTC). It is currently experiencing high volatility around $3,980 USDT.
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CryptoCompare, the global cryptocurrency market data provider, published its February 2019 Exchange Review, offering institutional and retail investors insights into the cryptocurrency exchange industry.
The February Monthly Review provides the latest exchange rankings; an evaluation of spot vs futures volumes including both crypto exchanges (BitMEX and BitflyerFX) and traditional exchanges (CBOE and CME); and an evaluation of volumes for the top trans-fee mining and decentralised exchanges.
New charts include an overview of derivatives exchanges with volume data from OKEx, CryptoFacilities and Deribit. In addition, a short trade data analysis for the end of February covers a selection of exchanges that trade either BTC to USD or USDT.
Click 'Read More' for the whole report.

BNB, the native token of Binance, also hit a 24h low of $14.57 USDT in the past 15 minutes. OKB, the native token of OKEx, is no exception. With a decrease of $3.93%, OKB refreshed its 24h low of $1.32 USDT.

United States' Missoula County, also referred to as a hub of five valleys, is planning to regulate cryptocurrency miners so that they comply with zoning and noise regulations and most importantly, forgo fossil fuel energy in an effort to reduce climate change, as reported by the local publication Missoulan on March 20.
The county's Board of Commissioners will convene in early April and consider implementing temporary zoning regulations that would establish conditions that mining activities must meet.
Cryptocurrency mining facilities may be required to purchase their own renewable energy sources that will provide all their energy needs. They also have the option to build their own power sources that include solar panels, wind turbines, or geothermal infrastructure.

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After trading sideways around $1.4 USDT on Binance for eight hours, ONT took a sudden drop to an intra-day (UTC) low of $1.28 USDT, followed by a quick rally to $1.3 USDT. At press time, ONT registers a 24-hour increase of 17%.
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WISeKey International Holding, a Swiss cybersecurity and IoT company, has announced that its WISePrint offers a complete solution to protect the 3D printing industry against counterfeiting.
WISePrint combines the seamless connectivity and network penetration of IoT with the secure and massive record-keeping ability of blockchain using WISeKey VaultIC security tags that enable physical objects to be authenticated online.

Lykke launches two new Crypto indexes: Smart LyCI, Pay LyCI and their associated service tokens, growing its series of products aiming to provide a simple path to the crypto market.
Earlier this year, Lykke launched its Crypto Index, LyCI, which tracks the Top 25 blockchain projects by market cap – rebalanced minute by minute – and its associated Service Token.

[Policy]
1. North Korean political dissident group Cheollima Civil Defence is selling Ethereum-based (ETH) visas for entering the country once it is supposedly liberated;
2. Swiss legislative body, the Federal Assembly, has approved a motion to instruct the Federal Council to adapt existing legislation for cryptocurrency regulation.
[Cryptocurrency]
1. The ETC team now releases the Emerald Command Line v0.25.0;
2. Cardano 1.5 has been released on the Cardano mainnet on March 20.
[Exchange&Wallet]
1. Bithumb lists GXC at 06:00 (UTC) on March 21;
2. Indian Exchange CoinDCX launches a lending program for five cryptocurrencies;
3. Bahrain-based Shariah compliant cryptocurrency exchange Rain lists XRP;
4. Switzerland-based Crypto ATM operator Värdex Suisse now supports BCH;
5. Japan-based exchange Minnano Bitcoin will have its services all terminated by April 1st, and will roll out new ones in April;
6. Documentation shows that MTGOX Co., Ltd is in possession of over 141,000 BTC and over 42,000 BCH.
[Others]
1. Chief Aliv Officer Damian Blackburn announced that Cable Bahamas and Aliv would accept Sand Dollar payments on day one of the launch of the new central bank-backed cryptocurrency;
2. Facebook is looking for a lead commercial counsel for its initiatives with the technology;
3. Square plans to hire three or four engineers and one designer "to work full-time on open source contributions to the Bitcoin/crypto ecosystem;"
4. MyEtherWallet (MEW) will feature FINNEY as a hardware wallet;
5. More than 70% of surveyed Japanese consider that cryptocurrencies are a long-term investment;
6. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, previously both prime minister of Denmark and secretary-general of NATO, has joined blockchain identity startup Concordium as a strategic advisor.

Between March 21st and April 1st (UTC), CoinNess will launch the third round of campaign in 2019 where participants will collect the token CNNS via multiple tasks across the board, and later redeem the tokens into USDT at a ratio of 100 CNNS : 1.5 USDT!
Any CNNS obtained from CoinNess App and official Telegram groups are granted eligibility to be redeemed as USDT, and the maximum amount of redeemable CNNS is set as 3,000 each person while the minimum is set as 140 CNNS. Participants can file an application for redemption with @CoinNessBot in the designated official Telegram group at any time between March 21st and April 1st (UTC). To all participants in our campaign, please beware that you are allowed only ONE chance of such an application throughout the twelve-day slot.
Redeemed USDT will be distributed your digital wallets within four to seven business days after application.
Click ‘Read More’ to invite your friends to seize the day!

Wasabi has been duped in an apparent bid to steal Bitcoin - and the ruse comes complete with an entirely phony website.
Wasabi's co-founder, nopara73, shared the discovery this morning: "The first malware that pretends to be Wasabi […]. Notice only the Windows download link points to their own website, the rest is to our GitHub?" he tweeted.
Indeed, the fraudulent site (wasabibitcoinwallet [dot] org) features a download page that links to the latest version of “Wasabi.” It lists four versions for download (macOS, Windows, and two for Linux). All the links direct users to the real Wasabi wallet (hosted via GitHub) except the Windows link, which automatically downloads a very suspicious .msi file hosted by the scammers' website directly.

The Việt Nam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) has reported that GandCrab ransomware affiliates which had been spreading globally over the past year had updated to version 5.2, which had been attacking Southeast Asian countries since mid-March this year.
In Việt Nam, GrandCrab 5.2 ransomware is concealed as archive files ending with documents that end with .rar attached in emails disguised as being sent by the Ministry of Public Security.
The encryption attacks the computer when users decompress or open the attached files and directs to download a browser which then logs into the attacker’s digital currency payment window with the required ransom package of US$400 to $1,000.
In the case of China, attackers use a weak-password dictionary to hack into computers that have installed a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) system, reported Tencent Security Thursday, March 21. After cracking the VNC password, attackers start to put multiple viruses onto the Internet networks. Such viruses include the GandCrab 5.2, Trojan virus targeting XMR and crypto wallets, etc.
The security team at Tencent suggests that strong password protection remains the first, and in most cases, the best line of defense for users and businesses. It is important that those who use a weak password while running the VNC system alter their password immediately.

Bitcoin’s drop from a record high of $20,000 clocked in December 2017 has ended up creating a falling channel similar to the one created in the 18 months leading up to the long-term bullish reversal seen in October 2015.
If the same sequence of events unfolds, BTC could see a channel breakout later this year. An early move out of the falling channel cannot be ruled out, but may not yield stronger rally while the crucial 21-week moving average is trending south.
The short-term bullish view put forward by the long-tailed doji candle created on Feb. 27 would gain credence if prices break above $4,040 in the next 24 hours, validating the bullish outside reversal candle on the three-day chart. That would open the doors to re-test of recent highs near $4,200.
A repeated failure to break above resistance at $4,073 could end up fueling a pullback to immediate support at $3,927 (March 17 low).

B2C2, a cryptocurrency liquidity provider based in London, has hired Rob Catalanello, a 25-year veteran of Wall Street, to lead its expansion into the U.S.
“We have submitted our FinCEN application and hope to be ready to begin dealing with customers by the end of April,” Catalanello said, explaining that B2C2 is taking “a very conservative approach” and securing the appropriate regulatory authorizations before it starts doing business in the U.S.

As of 11:00 (UTC) on March 21, the global average price of Bitcoin (BTC) marks $4,079.63 with an increase of 0.88% in the past 24 hours.
The CoinNess.com Bullish vs. Bearish Indicator shows our four-hour technical bias is "Buy" with three indicators sending out a selling signal, five showing a neutral signal, and 10 indicating a buying signal.
The broad market sees a continuous uptrend starting from our last market broadcast eight hours ago, with 18 out of Top 100 cryptos dropping by press time.
The global market cap reads $141.48 billion, and the 24-hour trading volume is $32.40 billion.
Major Coins
1. BTC quotes show $4,054.05 USDT on Binance, $4,119.50 on Bitfinex and $4,034.52 on Coinbase Pro;
2. CoinNess.com Market Index presents quotes for major cryptocurrencies besides BTC as following: ETH marks $140.08 (+0.70%); XRP marks $0.317 (+0.76%); LTC marks $60.41 (+0.84%); EOS marks $3.74 (+0.42%); BCH marks $15.22 (-0.28%); ETC marks $4.81 (+5.19%).
Top 3 Gainers and Losers in Cryptocurrencies
1. Top 3 gainers among Top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap: ONT (+24.75%), XTZ (+19.97%), RVN (+19.53%);
2. Top 3 losers among Top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap: CRO (-3.41%), INB (-2.31%), ZEC (-1.98%).
Top Gainers and Losers in Categories
1. Top 3 gainers among 47 categories: Notarization (+15.97%), Education (+9.08%), and Authentication (+8.57%);
2. Top 3 losers among 47 categories: Agriculture (-3.97%), Internet of Things (-3.33%), and Social Communication (-3.18%).
Cap Flows of Coins/Exchanges
1. Top 3 capital inflows within the last 24 hours: DASH (+$480 mln), LTC (+$152 mln), OKB (+$106 mln);
2. Top 3 capital outflows within the last 24 hours: EOS (-$90 mln), BTC (-$61 mln), BCH (-$58 mln);
3. Net inflows/outflows of exchanges: Binance (+$13.38 mln), Bitfinex (+$15.17 mln), Coinbase Pro (+$7.77 mln).

It is likely to see the integration of blockchain and pension-related products in the future, according to YAO Yudong, a former director of the Financial Research Institute at China’s Central Bank and currently the chief economist at DACHENG Fund.
YAO added that blockchain could play a part in registering, trading, and exchanging pension-related products, which require powerful technological support to improve data flow efficiency and provide convenient services to investors. Moreover, China’s new guidelines on capital management state that all of the data involved in capital management-related products, except for public funds, must be completely transparent from top to bottom, and that is something blockchain is good at with its core technology - the distributed ledger technology (DLT). With the DLT, data on blockchain is open, verifiable, uninterrupted, and transparent, said YAO.

Blockchain intelligence firm CipherBlade has accused the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) of using flawed investigative methods and thus overestimating the extent of alleged money laundering via crypto exchange ShapeShift. CipherBlade’s analysis of the WSJ report was published in a blog post on March 20.
As reported, the WSJ published a lengthy exposé in fall 2018 that alleged ShapeShift had facilitated the laundering of at least $9 million via cryptocurrencies - purportedly more than any exchange with offices in the United States in the course of the Journal’s investigations. The WSJ had claimed that the exchange had processed millions of dollars in criminal proceeds, a high proportion of which were purportedly being converted into privacy coins such as Monero (XMR).
At the request of ShapeShift, CipherBlade undertook an extensive analysis of the WSJ’s investigation, concluding that the “$9 million ‘laundering’ claim was overstated by a factor of 4x.”CipherBlade thus states that the WSJ’s claims were necessarily distorted.

Monitored by CoinNess.com, from 00:00 to 10:00 on March 21 (UTC), ETH tops the list of most capital inflows.
1. The Top 3 net cap inflows in the crypto market are: ETH (+$37.43 mln), OKB (+$11.75 mln), NEO (+$7.45 mln);
2. The Top 3 net cap outflows in the crypto market are: XRP (-$13.40 mln), XMR (-$7.59 mln), BTC (-$7.16 mln).
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Anders Fogh Rasmussen, previously both prime minister of Denmark and secretary-general of NATO, has joined blockchain identity startup Concordium as a strategic advisor.
In an announcement Wednesday (March 20), the Switzerland-based firm’s chairman, Lars Seier Christensen, said Rasmussen will play a “pivotal” role in the firm’s global expansion plans.

At least one scammer is reportedly gaming other users on the blockchain-powered event betting platform Augur by creating deliberately invalid markets, according to a Reddit thread published on March 20.
The reported scam entails a bad actor creating a predictions market that contains subtle contradictions or inconsistencies in its wording, which will ultimately lead to the market being declared invalid, and all staked funds thus being distributed evenly between betters.
Meanwhile, the creator of the purposefully invalid market bets on outcomes that are unlikely to win, having vouchsafed for him- or herself a guaranteed payout when staked funds are eventually redistributed.
Click 'Read More' for details.