Just recently news.Bitcoin.com reported on Bitpay launching bitcoin cash (BCH) integration for the firm's loadable Visa debit cards. Since then the company has implemented BCH invoice support for all of the firm's vendors, and now bitcoin cash can be spent with thousands of merchants worldwide.

Thousands of Merchants and Nonprofits Now Accept Bitcoin Cash

Merchant adoption has been increasing lately for the BCH ecosystem, but in one day that metric spiked considerably. Bitpay has fully integrated bitcoin cash payments for all of its vendors and merchants that utilize the company's payment processing services. Since the 'cryptocurrency fever' swept the globe in 2017, Bitpay's merchant list has grown considerably last year. This includes significant merchant growth in the U.S., South America, Asia, and Europe.

Bitcoin cash can be used with well-known merchants like Microsoft.

Bitcoin cash supporters have been extremely pleased to see some of their favorite merchants accepting BCH as a form of payment and network fees are considerably less. The list of Bitpay vendors who now accept BCH, includes Newegg, Apmex, Vultr, Namecheap, eGifter, Gyft, Zeek, Wefunder, Heifer International, Vodi, JM Bullion, and many more. This also includes a wide variety of nonprofits and charities like Save the Children, the Internet Archive, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Wikipedia.

Bitcoin cash can be used to donate to hundreds of charities and nonprofit organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

BIP 70 Wallet Support for Bitcoin Cash and BCH Being Used for South Korean Cross-Border Payments

In addition to the full range of merchants and non-profits now available to the BCH ecosystem. Bitcoin cash payments are also now compatible with the Payment-Protocol (BIP70) used in Bitpay invoices. Further, there are currently more supporting wallets utilizing this feature, and the Electron Cash client was added yesterday. Wallets that are compatible with the BCH Payment-Protocol include BRD Wallet, Bitcoin Core, Edge (formally Airbitz), Electrum, Mycelium, Copay, Bitpay, and the Bitcoin.com Wallet. Bitcoin cash users who have these types of wallets can utilize any Bitpay merchant.

The BCH wallet Electron Cash can now be used with the Payment-Protocol for those who wish to pay Bitpay merchant invoices.

Another announcement from Bitpay that will also please BCH proponents is the company's recent partnership with the South Korean exchange Bithumb. The two companies are launching a cross-border payment solution which will utilize BTC and BCH to help cheapen the costs of international payments for South Korean businesses. Bitpay executive Sonny Singh says that South Korean companies are sometimes paying or receiving $100,000 – $5 million USD per invoice. "A 1 -2% savings on each invoice can lead to dramatic cost savings," explains Singh.

Overall the announcement of Bitpay integrating bitcoin cash has pleased BCH proponents quite a bit as the number of merchants added to the ecosystem, and the new South Korean cross-border payment platform will increase BCH usage greatly. In addition to Bitpay, since the San Francisco company Coinbase integrated bitcoin cash support, BCH payments can be used with its new merchant plugin.

Bitcoin is struggling. Following yesterday's unimpressive but steady balance at $9,130, bitcoin has fallen by nearly $1,000 and is now trading for less than $8,300.

The news likely stems from an announcement by Google, as the popular Internet search engine has sworn to ban cryptocurrency and ICO-related ads in the coming months and to crack down on digital currency scams.

Similar sentiment was witnessed amongst Facebook executives earlier this year. The social media platform made a similar decision to ban cryptocurrency advertisements, which sent the price of bitcoin spiraling downward by approximately ten percent. While the fall is not as large this time around, bitcoin's price has sunk nearly eight percent, which puts the damage on a similar scale.

Google and Facebook are arguably two of the most powerful Internet companies in modern times, and if they say bitcoin and digital currencies aren't all they're cracked up to be, people are likely to listen, although CEO of Coinbase's UK branch Zeeshan Feroz feels differently. He says Google's crackdown will not "dampen" consumer demand anytime soon, but he did criticize the ban for being "too widespread."

Google has divisions all over the globe, which means bitcoin and altcoin coverage is going to be cut significantly, and it may take time for a respective bull run to occur again.

The ban will not take place until mid-June, which leaves many speculating as to why bitcoin would experience such a drastic fall at press time. The answer may be simple: that not all the kinks surrounding bitcoin have been worked out yet. Despite ten years of availability, bitcoin is still a fluctuating, changing, and ultimately "birthing" market, thus leaving it vulnerable to several factors. Announcements like these can have drastic effects on the price, and it is possible users may see another fall in June when Google fully implements the ban.

Managing Partner and CEO of $APEX Token Fund Chris Keshian is asking Google to "keep an open mind," and to not "tar all cryptocurrencies with the same brush." For the most part, he sees the move as somewhat progressive, as the ban is simply a "pause" in bitcoin's present run. He feels the move is likely to give bitcoin more time to mature and adapt to newer regulations, as they will undoubtedly come along.

One source suggests bitcoin could stay "in the red" until late September this year, when Mt. Gox – the infamous exchange that lost nearly half-a-billion in bitcoins in February 2014 – is slated to sell off its remaining crypto stash.

The company still holds approximately $1.5 billion USD in cryptocurrency assets, and the sell-off may happen once it obtains final permission from a Japanese court. The initial hearing will take place on September 18, suggesting that bitcoin may be "food for the bears" over the next six months. While some are still suggesting leaps can occur in the bitcoin price arena, we cannot ignore the fact that Mt. Gox was, is, and probably always will be a major influence on the father of all digital currencies.

Coinfloor have announced their group of cryptocurrency exchanges will now include Coinfloorex, a bitcoin futures exchange. Offering "institutional grade risk management and governance," traders, hedge funds, and miners will get bitcoin futures "at scale" through "specifically designed cryptocurrency contracts and operational controls."

"Our mission is to build a bridge between Fiat currency and cryptocurrency," Obi Nwosu, CEO of Coinfloor stressed, "to drive the stability and sustainability of cryptocurrency. Numerous market participants are calling on existing cryptocurrency exchanges that provide futures contracts to switch from cash to physical settlement. However, making that transition will be very difficult for them to achieve. We understood this requirement from the start, and have worked for over two years to bring this functionality to market. Now, institutional investors and traders can capitalise on market dynamics, within their own risk parameters and in line with their individual trading strategies."

As such, Coinfloor claims to have launched the "first physically delivered cryptocurrency futures contract" through its newly created crypto exchange, Coinfloorex. The contracts were "created to protect investors and traders against price slippage on positions at time of settlement, as well as concerns of market manipulation."

The company is well-known in the ecosystem, having been around since early 2013, using a peer-to-peer crypto exchange model. Bitcoin vetted brokers are connected to investors in bitcoin. Using a local bank, buyers are able to send money directly to sellers. They were also an early adopter of solving the normal two-step conversion between fiat and bitcoin. Coinfloor was one of the first to try a no-fee trading model, but later reinstated fees at the end of last year. It also continues to play an active role in courting regulators to take crypto seriously.

The innovation this time around seems to be the "physical delivery" aspect of bitcoin futures. "Settlement is based on physical delivery rather than an index price from across other exchanges, which provides maximum pricing transparency. Access to Coinfloor's spot exchange enables investors to easily convert Bitcoin to Fiat currency post-physical delivery, creating opportunities for longer-term currency appreciation or through meeting Bitcoin-denominated obligations," the company explained.

Bitcoin Futures Launch in the UK

For any crypto exchange, hacking is an issue. Anticipating such worries, "Security of the exchange is underscored by 100% multi-signature cold storage cryptocurrency custody

facility, safeguarding client portfolios from theft, loss or other security issues associated with partially online or online only storage of assets. Coinfloor also provides monthly solvency audits of Bitcoin balances, which gives institutional investors assurance that Coinfloorex has sufficient Bitcoin liquidity to manage market fluctuation," the announcement explained.

Ultimately the product is aimed at more savvy "sophisticated investors." April of this year is the date physical delivery of the bitcoin futures contract (XBT) is to be made

BitcoinCasino.us has long been respected among cryptocurrency gaming enthusiasts. Their dedicated customer service team has them being called, among many in the crypto gaming community, one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences on the web. Of course there is no physical bitcoincasino.us casino. All of their games and weekly tournaments are on the internet. Regardless, this online gaming magnate has continued to gain trust with cryptocurrency casino gamers.

There are many reasons for bitcoincasino.us being called the top bitcoin casino around. Their industry leading customer service has been long respected as responding to customers questions and concerns quickly, most of the time immediately after the query is placed. This is important to many crypto gamers seeing as there are, most of the time, large sums of money being won and lost on bitcoincasino.us, and other similar platforms. Another reason that bitcoincasino.us is being called a top notch gaming website is it's standing with popular gaming portals and casino review sites.

Bitcoincasino.us has proven through tested reviews that it's services are second to none in crypto gaming.

The website has a very high conversion rate. This means that when players use bitcoincasino.us to satisfy their crypto gaming needs, they return more often than they do to other websites which offer similar services. This brand popularity has contributed greatly to the growing reputation bitcoincasino.us has earned. This reputation for many of it's customers, and those familiar with cryptocurrency gaming, is that bitcoincasino.us is veritably a premium gaming institution with high end customer service. It's professional player retention team works hard to keep their customers happy. It appears that customer service is the most important aspect of bitcoincasino.us's business model.

Another reason that bitcoincasino.us has been called the best bitcoin casino around is it's payments never being late. On time payments are a guarantee at bitcoincasino.us. Their customers rest assured that they will be payed in bitcoin or in their cryptocurrency of choice on the first of each month, without delay. Bitcoincasino.us accepts payments in many different cryptocurrencies, these include: bitcoin, bitcoincash, litecoin, and dodgecoin. Withdraws are also available in a variety of cryptocurrencies, including: bitcoin, bitcoincash, litecoin, and dogecoin. While everyone is probably familiar with bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, and dogecoin are slightly lesser known cryptos. Bitcoin cash was intruduced in August 2017 after concerns were raised about the scalability of bitcoin. It's current market cap is 19.7 billion USD. 

Litecoin is a cryptocurrency similar to bitcoin. It was introduced in 2011 and has a current market cap of 12.7 billion USD. It's original author is Charlie Lee. Dogecoin was originally developed as a "joke" currency but gained popularity due to it having the logo of the doge dog internet meme. It surprisingly quickly gained a market capitalization of 60 million USD within a month. Dogecoin's currenct market cap is 500 million USD.

With bitcoincasino.us making all of these currencies available for deposits or withdrawals it is easy to see why it is chosen by most crypto gamers as their online cryptocurrency casino of choice. Not only can you deposit and withdraw in a variety of crypto curriencies, but your earnings in all of these currencies are unlimited. This is not common with online crypto currency casinos. Not only are your earnings unlimited by they are also completely anonymous. All you need to sign up for bitcoincasino.us is an email address and a bitcoin address to process your payments.

Binance has found itself at the center of an unusual trading bug that has created big winners and losers. In a matter of minutes, viacoin pumped by 70x. Just to compound the drama, bitcoin experienced a massive sell-off shortly afterwards following bearish news from the SEC. Binance suspended withdrawals while it investigated the matter, but these have since been reactivated. Wednesday March 7 will go down as a memorable day in the exchange's short history, but one with a happy ending. 

Viacoin Goes on a Moon Mission

Pump and dump schemes are not unusual on cryptocurrency exchanges, but this wasn't a usual pump. This was a mega pump which sent viacoin from $3 to $200 in record time. Binance wasn't hacked. Rather, a compromised API is the culprit behind what was an extremely clever attack. First, the bot sold all the altcoins in accessible accounts at market prices, causing a sea of red. Then, it took the BTC profits and put them into viacoin. It may have occurred illegally, but if ever there were a case of a moon mission, this was it, as one Twitter user memorably depicted, the green candle standing proud in the center:

The candle viacoin produced was a spectacular one, as the misappropriated crypto of potentially hundreds of traders was used to send the coin sky-high. One trader boasted of having made $300,000 in BTC from the pump and then withdrawing it to Coinbase before Binance caught on and disabled withdrawals. The user's Twitter account disappeared shortly afterwards. Another reportedly lost 0.5 BTC, although Binance has since restored all customer funds.

Bots Blamed for Beastly Binance Bug

Altcoinbot.io has been suggested as the likeliest culprit behind the scam. Typically, such bots require traders to submit an API key linked to an exchange. This key permits the bot to make trades on their behalf, but not withdrawals, hence the pattern of dumping affected users' altcoins and then pumping VIA. As the mother of all pumps unfolded, viacoin dev Romano was forced to go on the defensive, with some people suggesting the scheme was of his doing.

The conspiracy theories were bolstered by the fact that Romano had spoken of tinkering with his own trading bot in the last few days. He seems to have had no inkling of this event in advance, however, and there is no evidence that points to his involvement. "At least the hacker has a good taste," he wisecracked, adding "Jokes aside I have nothing to do with Binance acting weird. If rumors are true, kinda wish they bought another coin instead of Viacoin. Probably they chose the coin with the lowest marketcap, being the easiest to buy up."

We are investigating reports of some users having issues with their funds. Our team is aware and investigating the issue as we speak. As of this moment, the only confirmed victims have registered API keys (to use with trading bots or otherwise). There is no evidence of the Binance platform being compromised. Please remain patient and we will provide an update as quickly as possible. Withdrawals are temporarily disabled at this time.

Some of the affected users are adamant that they have never used the Binance API, but the exchange's CEO attributed this to previous phishing attacks. More sophisticated than a conventional phishing attack, this instance would steal a user's login details via a virtually indistinguishable URL then redirect them to the real Binance site. The attacker would have been none the wiser that their account had been compromised until today.

Bitcoin Dumps Amidst the Chaos

Bots Blamed for Binance Bug That Leaves Traders Counting the CostIn a dramatic day for the markets, bitcoin dropped sharply to under $10,000 as the full scope of the Binance incident was still sinking in. Altcoins have also been badly affected, not only on Binance, but across the board. Bitcoin's sharp dip does not necessarily correspond to the goings on at Binance – the SEC releasing a directive regarding unlawful trading platforms is a likelier cause – though the incident can't have helped. If a trading bot is proven to be responsible, it may cause traders to think twice about who they hand their API keys to in future. Third party platforms might be incapable of accessing users' funds, but they can still wreak havoc as today's events show.

A small island nation with less than 60,000 inhabitants best known internationally as a former test site for nuclear weapons is joining the hottest new trend – issuing a national cryptocurrency. The planned Marshall Islands' Govcoin is expected to be issued later this year.

Marshall Islands Govcoin ICO

The Republic of the Marshall Islands plans to issue its own cryptocurrency as an official legal tender, to be known as the Sovereign. The local parliament voted this week to proceed with the issuing plan, Kenneth Kedi, a senator and the body's speaker, said in a Bloomberg interview. A council still has several days to object, a step he considers unlikely.

The Sovereign is expected to be issued later this year, David Paul, minister-in-assistance to the president revealed. The Marshall Islands government will arrange an initial coin offering (ICO) and exchanges will be allowed to apply to trade the currency, he said. The move is seen as a way to bolster local budgets, he added. "This was specifically targeted for the long-term needs of the country." A portion of the funds raised in the ICO offering will also be used to finance health care to islanders still affected by US nuclear weapons testing in the area decades ago, Paul said.

The National Crypto Trend

Offshore Tax Haven Marshall Islands to Issue National CryptocurrencyThere have been discussions for the last few years among central bankers about issuing national cryptocurrencies, mainly as an effort to to create a 'cashless society' or to try and answer the attraction to bitcoin by young people, as they see it. However, this trend has gotten a lot stronger recently, apparently because of the government of Venezuela pushing its own Petro.

The actual potential value of such national cryptocurrencies is still in doubt. For citizens, these digital currencies will not offer the alluring freedom from state control of bitcoin if they are really managed by the government. And if they are not run by the state then they will offer no benefit to central bankers. As the Russian Ministry of Finance recently informed President Vladimir Putin, the creation of a centralized coin seems impossible, as cryptocurrencies are based on decentralized ledgers.

This week the Bitcoin Cash network has gained more infrastructure and support from a variety of crypto-based businesses. Additionally, the digital asset has seen increased trade volume, and its price has been holding steady after the big dip that affected the entire cryptocurrency market ecosystem.

Bitcoin Cash Markets Consolidate for the Next Move

More Infrastructure Support Joins the Bitcoin Cash Ecosystem So far the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain is 8037 blocks ahead of the core chain (BTC) since it was born on August 1, 2017. At the time of publication, the BCH chain is operating at 11.8 percent of the BTC chain's difficulty, and it is 4.8 percent more profitable to mine BTC right now. Since the inception of BCH, the digital asset has grown exponentially in value in just a few short months, and today one BCH is averaging $1,225 per token. After this weekend the currency's market saw a significant spike in trade volume, capturing over $400Mn each day over the past 48 hours. The currency swapped the most with BCH right now is BTC, as it represents roughly 51 percent of BCH trades on February 27. This is followed by tether USDT (20.7%), the USD (16.2%), and the Korean won (8%).

Technical Indicators

Bitcoin Cash markets have seen some gains since the February 25th rally got started, and the price has recovered quite a bit since hitting a low of $760 on February 6. The 100 Simple Moving Average (SMA) is above the longer-term 200 SMA after crossing hairs just a few hours ago. This indicates the path to resistance is on the upside and bulls have a chance to regain the $1,650 high it reached on February 18. RSI and Stochastic oscillators are heading northbound as well following tight correlated movements with BTC market indicators.

Today on February 28 one BCH is averaging $1,225 USD per token.

Order books show big sell walls in the $1,300 region, but after those walls there seems to be smoother seas ahead. BCH will likely have pit stops in the $1,600 and the psychological $2,000 territory if market prices manage to make it past resistance. On the back side, order books show some solid foundations between $1,200-1,000. If the Displaced Moving Average is broken at $1,000, testing the $700 territory again would be likely. For now, BCH markets look like they will continue to rally northbound with the rest of the digital assets recovering from this past weekend's losses.

Three more companies announce Bitcoin Cash support. Unocoin launches its multi-currency exchange that lists BCH. Paybis now allows BCH purchases using credit cards, and the wallet provider Bread revealed this week its BCH supporting wallet is on its way.

Bitcoin cash has also gained some infrastructure support this week. For instance, the Indian company Unocoin has launched a multiple cryptocurrency asset exchange and will list BCH. Another popular wallet provider Bread (formally Bread Wallet) has announced its multi-currency client will be released soon with full BCH support.

"We have to build a fully autonomous SPV wallet, and it has to work — We can't get away with standing up some bitcoin-ABC nodes and changing some RPC calls. That being said, it's already done and in final testing phase. In fact, if you'd like to test, please email me," explains a developer from Bread.

The tipmebchbot.

In addition to the wallet support, the BCH community now has a beta Telegram tipping-bot called the tipmebchbot. The bot allows Telegram users to tip each other BCH, but the program is in a testing stage for now. "This software is highly experimental and may lead to loss of funds. The author takes no responsibility for your money," explains the Bot's Github repository.

Alongside the Telegram bot news, BCH fans will soon be able to purchase bitcoin cash using a debit or credit card through the company Paybis. The firm says they are thrilled to announce that customers will be able to use cards to purchase BCH almost instantly with help from its processing partner Simplex. According to Paybis, users will be able to buy $20,000 weekly and $50,000 USD monthly.

New ATMs that support Bitcoin Cash installed this week in Toronto and the UK.

BCH Community Remains Positive

Overall bitcoin cash proponents are optimistic the price will regain strength, and more infrastructure will soon follow. Additionally, there are two big conferences dedicated to focusing on the BCH ecosystem coming this spring hosted by Bitcoin Unlimited and the firm Coingeek. Further, there's been a lot of discussions revolving around the development of 'colored coins' and the community has been talking about this subject with great fervor. Lastly, BCH supporters are waiting for Bitpay to implement BCH invoices soon which will open the cryptocurrency to a vast array of merchants and services that accept cryptocurrency payments.