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Nice to see you keeping up w/ the gossip. :) It’s funny people are naive enough to think I don’t realize they’ve been shorting. I’m glad they’ve profited plenty. It’s been very easy trades especially with my crystal ball to boot. They’d be very foolish to doubt my most recent reading but some inevitably will. You can lead a horse to water...
Nothing. Short away
Abu Dhabi Trading Firm adds Litecoin, Ripple and Bitcoin Cash
MARTIN YOUNG | APRIL 5, 2018 | 5:49 AM
As the popularity of cryptocurrencies grows, trading platforms and exchanges are looking beyond the top two, Bitcoin and Ethereum, and are widening their listings. Despite current market woes cryptocurrencies are gaining greater traction among traditional trading companies and Abu Dhabi’s ADS Securities is the latest to adopt them.
LTC, XRP, and BCH Available to Trade
According to reports the Middle East international securities trading firm ADS Securities has announced that traders using its OREX platform can now trade Litecoin, Ripple and Bitcoin Cash in addition to the main two already listed. The company soft-launched the new cryptocurrencies in mid-March in order to gauge response from its clients, and positive feedback resulted in permanent listings for the three altcoins.
Additionally the firm has reduced the spreads on Bitcoin and Ethereum trading to reduce costs for its customers. Using CFD (contract for difference) trading allows traders to speculate on the rising or falling of prices in fast moving markets such as cryptocurrencies. Traders do not have to setup crypto wallets or deal with exchanges which makes their lives a little easier.
Head of Retail Sales at ADS Securities, Jason Hughes, told media;
“We are delighted to be expanding the offering on our OREX platform to include these key cryptocurrencies. OREX enables users to access the crypto markets with ease, and the flexibility of CFDs allow our clients to take long or short positions, helping their management of exposures and positioning during the current volatility in these markets. Cryptocurrencies have been making waves for some time, however now that understanding of the market is growing, we believe it is the right time to introduce more coins on to our OREX Platform.”
ADS Securities was established in 2011 and is part of the ADS Holding group, in a short period of time it has established itself as a leading forex, bullion and online trading firm in the region. It also provides foreign investment markets analysis on CNBC, Bloomberg, and CNBC Arabiya. Being regulated by the Central Bank of UAE makes it a very well capitalized company and its acceptance of cryptocurrencies is a positive sign for overall adoption.
Aliant Confirms Status as Litecoin’s First Official Payments Partner
MARTIN YOUNG | APRIL 5, 2018 | 9:34 AM
US based provider of merchant services and payment processing Aliant Payments Systems has confirmed that it has entered into an official partnership with the Litecoin Foundation.
The company is the first to officially complete the Litecoin Foundation’s registration process making it the first official payments partner and Litecoin payments processor. Litecoin has experienced a tumultuous month or two with all the hype leading up to the LitePay launch which fell flat on its face. Prices surged and slid and LTC has taken a beating with the rest of the altcoins this week.
The confirmation is some desperately needed good news for the Litecoin Foundation though it has had little effect. Aliant has been in the payments industry for 15 years, the partnership will allow the Litecoin Foundation to provide an option for merchants seeking a vetted and approved payments processor. Aliant will be the recommended choice as it is one of the only companies to offer cryptocurrency capabilities in ecommerce, retail and mobile environments.
Aliant CEO Eric Brown had this to say on the partnership;
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Litecoin Foundation to bring a trusted, stable solution to innovative merchants who are interested in adopting cryptocurrency payments. We look forward to working together to bring Litecoin payments to mass adoption.”
While the news has been circling for a while both parties have been reconfirming their affiliation on social media hyping up the first Litecoin summit;
We're excited to share that Aliant will be attending the first-ever Litecoin Summit by @LTCFoundation this September in San Francisco, and our CEO @BigEtheword will be speaking about Litecoin payments solutions! Who's going? #PayWithLitecoin
Earlier this week Amex backed crypto trading app Abra also announced that it will be using Litecoin smart contracts as part of its payments solutions.
Good news does not seem to have the same effect on cryptocurrencies as it did in the latter half of 2017. Litecoin has been battered this year and was one of the worse performing altcoins in March, shedding almost 40% over the month.
Even with Aliant and Abra onboard LTC continued to slide this week falling 5% on the day and a similar amount over the week. Litecoin is currently trading around $120, down from $215 this time last month. The entire market is bear dominated and it will need a lot of momentum to reverse this trend at the moment.
40 days to go. May 15 around the corner
Like I said. Line in the sand marked.
Because mining bitcoin is profitable vs mining sh*tcoins isn’t. Regulation coming specifically for these scam coins, not for bitcoin
Bitcoin Error Log Interviews Charlie Lee of the Litecoin Foundation
NVIDIA CEO: “Cryptocurrency Is Here to Stay”
I’m getting some Twitter love!!! :)
Litecoin (LTCUSD) ― Ramiel: Investing in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin is https://t.co/yINghf1tsX ⚡️ via → https://t.co/SXzIH1SG8Y
— Crypto Trader Pro 🇺🇸 (@CryptoTraderPro) April 5, 2018
Investing in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin is still a game that can make people rich and truly free, according to some experts.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have made many people very rich, very quickly - people who purchased into these cryptocurrencies early, before they ran their exponential course.
But they have made many people very poor very quickly, too--people who purchased these cryptocurrencies near their old-time highs, before they got crushed.
"It's safe to say that the price action in the crypto market over the past few months has been very ugly,” says Investing.com Senior Analyst Jesse Cohen. “All the major coins have suffered steep double-digit declines since the start of the year and are all trading below their respective 200-day moving averages, which usually signals more losses ahead.”
Still, Cohen doesn’t believe the game is over for Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies. “We've seen Bitcoin do this before, where it plunges sharply over a prolonged period only to violently bounce back to new highs in a short time. While it isn't looking too hot at the moment, it's still way to early too call the end of Bitcoin, or cryptos in general."
Aaron Lasher, BRD’s CMO and Co-founder, agrees. "The game isn't over,” says Lasher. “Digital scarcity is a major innovation in money and value, and we're in the initial stages of a multi-decade trend towards tokenization of assets.”
Lasher sees cryptocurrency innovations changing peoples’ lives. “If sending money globally as easily as an email doesn't impress you, how about the ability to store your life savings in your head, then walking your family across a war-torn border to safety?”
That’s why people shouldn’t be fooled by the recent social media gloom and doom about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. “Witness the continental shift towards cryptocurrency with a magnifying glass, and you might be fooled, but bitcoin has "died" over a hundred times in the past, at least according to traditional journalists.”
Lasher believes that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are still the tickets to a rich and truly free life. “Getting rich with cryptocurrency is a proxy for true freedom, a personal financial situation that is largely immune to the politics, flaws, and vicissitudes of an interconnected, global system - an oasis of security and a platform for individual pursuits."
The Lightning Network Explained (Litecoin/Bitcoin)
Why You Should Invest in Litecoin (LTC) Now
Litecoin (LTC) is fifth in market capitalization according to Coinmarketcap. The bearish nature of the market led to the loss of close to fifty percent of its value in the first quarter of 2018 since it opened at $230.67 on Jan 1, 2018, and was $116.61 when the market closed on March 31, 2018.
Reasons why Litecoin (LTC) will provide investors positive returns in the second quarter of 2018 include:
1) Association with the Lightning Labs Network
2) Use as an alternative for Bitcoin (BTC) in Abra for smart contracts
Association with the Lightning Labs Network
The Lightning Labs Network has helped in the execution of smart contracts by partnering with blockchains to reduce the cost of transactions and the time associated. LTC is one of the top crypto coins that has commenced the implementation of Lightning in its transactions, which has led to an increased interest just as was observed when Stellar Lumen joined the network.
Use as an alternative for Bitcoin (BTC) In Abra for Smart Contracts
After the partnership with Abra was announced, the value of Litecoin (LTC) increased by about 15%. Abra is a recently developed application that helps to convert, previously Bitcoin (BTC) but now Litecoin (LTC), about 20 other cryptocurrencies and also 50 fiats at no fee. This has led to more investors using Litecoin since they can store their preferred cryptocurrency or fiat at no charge, unlike what is obtainable in some applications that charge transaction fees from users.
Abra startup CEO, Bill Barhydt, explained the reasons for changing from Bitcoin (BTC) to Litecoin (LTC) in a Reddit AMA on Tuesday, April 3. Responding to a question about the decision he broke it down like this;
"We went with Litecoin as the second asset class, after bitcoin, for our smart contract investing solution for 3 primary reasons: 1. commitment to bitcoin compatibility: core roadmap, p2sh support, lightning support, etc; 2. slightly better scalability than bitcoin in short-term (block size and block times); 3. mining fees which are primarily a function of #2 although this is more of a short-term benefit as mining fees would likely skyrocket if we're successful anyway!"
The line in the sand has been marked.
The bitPico attack leads to better performance of Bitcoin [BTC]’s Lightning Network
https://www.google.com/amp/s/ambcrypto.com/the-bitpico-attack-leads-to-better-performance-of-bitcoin-btcs-lightning-network/amp/
May 15 is the start of the next great bull run for bitcoin and the crypto market. All hell will break loose from May 15 til November.
Litecoin can definitely fail. This is crypto. Anything can happen. However, being so closely associated and attached to BTC, how long LTC has existed, the amount of daily usage LTC has, the adaptation path LTC is on, the LTC community and developers, the technology, and many other reasons makes LTC the top risk/reward crypto out there imo. This can definitely change but for the next 18 months or so, Litecoin is in a great position in this new market
I don’t look at short term targets too often in regards to LTC because I don’t trade it and I don’t need to buy anymore. Patiently waiting for developers to do their thing and adaptation to continue. I contribute to LTC in many ways including posting here.
I bought more ETH today. LTC amazing value here.
Litecoin (LTC): Why the Bears Might Be Wrong About LTC?
Litecoin (LTC) is a smart contract based system that is doing the right at the right and giving Bitcoin a run for their money. Litecoin has borrowed a lot from Bitcoin but is focused on real life solutions a fact that it will become better than the oldest cryptocurrency by usability and enhanced features.
Many cryptocurrency holders and users are finding Bitcoin rigid and taking time to respond to the consumer ever changing preferences. Litecoin has seized the opportunity to bridge this ever widening gap using the smart contract technology. For one, LTC coin is affordable and transaction fees are at their lowest compared to the first generation coin.
Why Abra has Settled on Litecoin (LTC)
To bring you up to speed, Abra Global supports the largest exchange and wallet supporting more than 20 digital coins and 50 fiat currencies, this is a unique exchange according to Abra CEO, Bill Barhydt. With use of smart contract technology, Litecoin is the natural choice to run the Abra App. Choosing Litecoin is a value addition to the platform.
According to the CEO, Litecoin offers unsurpassed lightening support; it is scalable and compatible with the Bitcoin blockchain. The comparison between Litecoin and Bitcoin, Bill adds that Litecoin offers low transaction fees which fit into Abra’s near future goals. If these two collaborate, it will be a two-way boost and the price and value of LTC will skyrocket in the market.
According to Bill, you cannot compare Abra with major exchanges like GDAX and Binance; Abra is an application that is designed to support any investor in the retail sector that is focused on extra exposure to digital assets. The application is an additional tool that opens up the various assets in the digital currency world. It is designed to provider other services beyond fiat and digital coins.
The collaboration will help Litecoin (LTC) and Abra increase adoption, increase volumes and give their consumer base better services and support. The CEO adds:
“I believe that eventually they would come in and that this could cause a huge spike in volume, price, liquidity, etc for the top Cryptos.”
What is Litecoin (LTC) Up to?
If you have ever used Bitcoin and Litecoin (LTC), you are likely to tell the difference between the two and why there is a migration from the old to new platform. One of the obvious reasons is that the LTC token is cheap. It offers better and more scalable solutions compared to Bitcoin.
At the time of writing the price of LTC stood around 121 after losing 2.3% against the USD. Litecoin was once being traded at $300 and dropped to a low of almost $100 and seems to be finding difficulties on its recovery route.
If you are a long term investor, Litecoin (LTC) is a must have coin in 2018 and beyond. With Abra support, you have a chance of cheap trades between digital currencies and fiat. All you have to do is fund your wallet with LTC to be able to trade. With the use of smart contracts, your funds are safe and transactions fees are drastically lowers and your recipients will enjoy near real time transactions.
To improve on its market penetration and reach, Litecoin (LTC) is now listed at Gemini exchange. With a lot of user traffic on the exchange, the volumes are poised to increase leading to more acceptance of the coin to unlock its hidden value. For any digital coin to grow more interaction with users is a must. This will help LTC reposition itself to challenge bigger coins like BTC and ETH.
The release of Litecoin Core had helped the coin stay afloat during the time when other coins were looking south. This is the stability you should look for in a coin before investing. Litecoin (LTC) is currently struggling in its recovery journey but Abra is expected to limit losses and support this smart contract backed coin. It’s too hard to predict the future, especially when it keeps changing so quickly. LTC like any other coin is definitely a risky investment. However, as noted above, there are reasons to have faith that it will head a lot higher in the long term.
Q&A with Abra CEO Bill Barhydt:
Why did you decide to go with Litecoin? How familiar were you with the crypto space before making that decision?
Excellent question. We went with Litecoin as the second asset class, after bitcoin, for our smart contract investing solution for 3 primary reasons: 1. commitment to bitcoin compatibility: core roadmap, p2sh support, lightning support, etc; 2. slightly better scalability than bitcoin in short term (block size and block times); 3. mining fees which are primarily a function of #2 although this is more of a short term benefit as mining fees would likely sky rocket if we're successful anyway!
May I ask a follow up question? Is Litecoin the primary asset class, or is that Bitcoin?
The primary asset class is now litecoin but we're in a transition away from bitcoin to litecoin which will take several weeks. Again most users will never know that it happened.
Hi I would like to know how you plan to compete with the likes of binance and Coinbase and how using litecoin as a smart contract will benefit the litecoin community
Abra is not meant to be a trading platform like binance or gdax. Abra is mean to be a simple app for retails investors to get exposure to hard to access assets. We enable this investment exposure using a synthetic cfd like model based on p2sh multi-sig scripts on the litecoin and bitcoin blockchains. Our goal is to open this up to different asset classes over time, not just the top 20 cryptos and fiat but even stocks, commodities, etc. An example of this vision that we hope to bring to market in the future is for someone in Ghana to buy exposure to Apple or someone in Indonesia to buy exposure to Alibaba and simply collect their winnings (or give up their losses) in litecoin. All using the same app you're able to download today from the app store.
Hi Bill. Glad to have you here. When will Abra be moving to Litecoin for smart contracts, and will that have any effect on price/volume due to an increase/need for coins for your hot wallets? And how do you feel about the recent merchant processors failing to deliver for Litecoin?
we have some users on litecoin smart contracts now and some on bitcoin. users don't actually know when they're using either as this is meant to stay in the background. (Is this something that you think the average user would want to know? Our assumption is no but we're certainly open to this idea.) More users will be migrated to litecoin based contracts in the coming days and weeks because of the scalability benefits I mentioned earlier. Eventually almost everyone will be on litecoin although our solution allows us to easily migrate the contracts between the bitcoin and litecoin networks.
When do you see big institutional money coming into the space?
I honestly don't know. Business Insider mentioned that I thought it would be this year. That's actually NOT what I said. I said I believe that eventually they would come in and that this could cause a huge spike in volume, price, liquidity, etc for the top cryptos.
Good afternoon!
Two part question: On the description of Abra Global it states "fund your wallet with Fiat or Bitcoin", is this a wallet or an exchange platform?
If you are taking in fiat currency how will you answer to creating your own SRO, listening to regulatory agencies and institutional investors around paper money when everyone in the United States has to abid by the Patriot Act?
Abra is a wallet that uses smart contracts to give users investment exposure to other assets, today crypto and fiat assets and hopefully other asset types in the future. Our system includes the ability to do atomic swaps between any contract types that our system supports with one button push via a simple consumer/retail interface. Our goal is for the consumer to not have to understand the mechanics of this.
I should also point out that we will add native support for other crypto currencies in the app as their demand goes up as this lowers our cost of offering the service - maintaining the smart contracts has a fixed daily cost to Abra which holding native cryptos does not. However, the smart contract platform allows us to launch new currencies very quickly without having to integrate the wallet with each blockchain directly in the first step.
How does Abra ensure that it is solvent if I trade LTC for VTC and then VTC goes for a huge pump and then I cash out?
each smart contract is effectively a bet between you and Abra. In your example you're buying the ltc or btc equivalent of vtc (the vtc contract) and then taking the short position in the bet against abra who is taking the long position in the bet. if the price of vtc vs litecoin goes up then you will end up with less litecoin but if the price of vtc vs litecoin goes down you end up with more litecoin but the exposure to vtc in absolute terms stays the same. Abra then manages its own counterparty risk on the long side by hedging away that risk in real time. This is accomplished via an internal market making system we've built whereby we borrow litecoin or bitcoin (dollar for dollar vs the amount of vtc you're buying exposure to) and then selling that litecoin in exchange for vtc. This is all done in real time and eliminates any counterparty risk to the consumer in terms of abra not being able to make the consumer whole in a down market (like the one we just experienced.) In the current down market we had consumers who were hedged in fiat vs bitcoin for $millions and Abra's system worked perfectly and we didn't lose a penny and were still able to make the consumer whole.
This process is very complex and I'm guessing some of you are either confused or not clear on this answer given that the financial engineering is not commonplace. We're working on some illustrations that we hope to publish soon to showcase how the system works in more detail but in any case the description above is technically correct.
Hi and thanks for doing this. Currently many smart contracts are written on the Ethereum blockchain. May I ask why Abra decided to go with Litecoin instead of Ethereum?
p2sh (supported in bitcoin, litecoin and bitcoin cash) is the perfect model for simulating our synthetic cfd. it's secure, easier to work with and more liquid than ether for our purposes. We may support native ether via this model in the future but don't have any immediate plans to announce.
You have experience with Litecoin smart contracts now. Do you see other companies adopting the use of them as well? Thank you for doing this and I love your guys transparency.
I sure hope so.
Hi Mr. Barhydt. Does Abra have any plans to market/advertise its App via mainstream channels like radio or tv?
no immediate plans. word of mouth has been awesome so far. We almost doubled our user base in the past month with no real advertising spend. Hopefully that trend will continue!
Hey Bill,
Thanks for taking time out of your schedule to do this AMA. I have a two part question.
After the LitePay disappointment, it was clear that individuals in this community are looking for more merchant services. Abra is unique in its use of synthetic coins. Settling payments with merchants utilizing Fiat synthetic coins might be more appealing to merchants who aren’t completely comfortable using crypto currencies as payments. Would Abra Global be interested in moving into merchant services in the future?
Second question After seeing some of the users comments. Are there any aspects that were on your timeline that you think have a higher priority than previously anticipated?
Bonus: This question is from /u/wonderingalong, who wasn’t able to make it to this AMA
He would like to ask, What is Abra currently doing to answer current regulations & how are you planning on keeping up with regulations in the future?
Would Abra Global be interested in moving into merchant services in the future? It depends on the use case. We're particularly interested in business to consumer payments and consumer to consumer. I think consumer to business is a crowded market with lots of players and hard to add value.
What is Abra currently doing to answer current regulations & how are you planning on keeping up with regulations in the future? I spend an inordinate amount of time on this topic. We have lawyers in multiple countries and an internal compliance team that helps us stay on top of this. It's a moving and evolving target but getting in early has helped us stay on top of the moving target and even contribute to regulator understanding where we can. We're a member of Coin Center in DC that is doing excellent work in educating congress in particular.
When are you going to be accepting LTC deposits without BTC conversion?
It will definitely be in April, hopefully earlier in April rather than later but the team is asking that I make no commits outside of April (wink wink.)
Hi Mr. Barhydt, have you got a roadmap in order push the mainstream adoption in conjunction with ABRA? And if yes, what is your vision?
Our vision is to build a non custodial crypto bank that democratizes access to financial services for every consumer on the planet: 1. investment access (starting with crypto/fiat contracts but eventually including other asset classes like stocks, bonds, commodities); 2. payments and money transfer (you can do some of this with Abra today) 3. credit services (I've talked about this publicly vis a vis our recent Foxcon investment) where my favorite example is hardware as a service using Abra's smart contracts to facilitate payments. A great example of this is Mkopa in Kenya.
lnd v0.4.1-beta has been released!
This release includes a number of bug fixes, cross-impl compatibility improvements, p2p networking hardening, and a new macaroon!
“Litecoin
Several minor bugs have been fixed within lnd's Litecoin mode. The most notable fix is properly using a sane dust value to ensure we only produce easily mineable commitments.”
https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/releases/tag/v0.4.1-beta
Nice. Glad ur closing ur short positions.
Of course. Non-deterministic. Is your cpu safe? That’s another question. I’d store your private keys offline on a usb.
Abra is a non-deterministic wallet for Bitcoin holdings. Amazing for an exchange unlike Coinbase and binance. Look into Abra and see if ETH and LTC holdings are non-deterministic as well. I don’t believe they are yet but I may be wrong. It will be once Litecoin derivatives smart contracts start. Loaf wallet is non-deterministic. Extremely safe. Just hold onto those private keys!
42 days away shorts. Nothing you can do to stop the bull run the crypto market will embark on starting May 15 and lasting til November.
You’re welcome. Never have been full of BS. I called BCH at $300 before it went 10x. Told any ihuber who’d listen. No one did. Feel free to read through the thread.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=135835919
I hope you become filthy rich. Most alt coins are junk. If you venture out, be careful. Buy the ones that are used and decentralized. Remember to store your coins off exchanges. Use a paper wallet if ur a true HODLer. If not, use a non-deterministic wallet such as loaf wallet. GL
Abra cadabra! AMEX backed crypto start-up using Litecoin smart contracts. Reaffirmed. Litecoin going to $1000+ in under 490 days
Flappening at 63%. Litecoin extremely undervalued. http://flappening.watch
Shorting Bitcoin now is worse than going long at 19k.
This is the other side of fomo.
Clever people trade exactly opposite.
Bitcoin's Lightning Network Is Being Attacked for Its Own Good
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-lightning-network-attacked-good/
Bitcoin's Lightning Network Is Being Attacked for Its Own Good
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-lightning-network-attacked-good/
Especially the overcrowded short positions on BTC. They’ve been warned. May 15
Nice. Add that with the atomic swaps and Abra Litecoin derivatives smart contracts and you’re gonna see astronomical prices. You know they’ll want to test the limits of LN just like they tested the limits of Bitcoin’s blockchain. I can’t wait. Gotta patiently wait though. LN just these passed 2 weeks has slowly been rolled out
Lots of LN testing going on. Hmmmm
https://mobile.twitter.com/negrunch/status/980928776317095938/photo/1
Yes. Hackers targeting major exchanges. Traders using other avenues to protect themselves. Remember my 3 day rant about keeping your coins off exchanges? It’s for your protection
Lightning Cross-Blockchain Swap Between Bitcoin and Litecoin. This video was from November when most of you probably weren’t in Litecoin. The video shows the first successfully tested the Lightning cross-chain atomic swap between the Bitcoin and Litecoin on the testnet.
Want a clue when a big price spike is about to occur? Look out for coupons on ASICs mining hardware. Tons of L3s coupons are floating around. What does that foretell? An increase in mining difficulty. Which also means an increase in LTC coin value. May 15 around the corner
Hang in there. Sucks being under water. Bull run coming. New ATH coming as well
They’re coming. Be loaded before May 15. GL. More info coming