UK Garbageman Now Accepts Bitcoin Payments

In order for a commodity, bill or any other type of financial instrument to be considered a true currency it must be accepted as such by all members of society. A recent indication that this is the state bitcoin is entering comes from the UK where a local garbageman is now welcoming payments in the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin-Savvy Garbageman

Hearing about bitcoin and trash in the same sentence the first thing that pops to your mind is probably one of the stories about someone who threw away his hard drive containing a small fortune to the landfill back in the day and now laments its value. Two famous examples of this is Australia’s Campbell Simpson who disposed of 1,400 bitcoins and Wales’ James Howells who accidentally threw away 7,500.

However, a new story in bitcoin trash news emerges – a garbageman supporting the cryptocurrency for payments. British refuse and recycling company, Business Waste LTD, has announced it is the first in the nation to accept bitcoin. The York, England based operation is now open to payments in cryptocurrencies for its commercial waste contracts.

It’s logical that British companies should move into the 21st Century and process payments in whatever form that’s offered, company officials say. “Individuals and companies are trading in bitcoin and other virtual currencies all over the world,” says Business Waste spokesperson Mark Hall, “so of course we’re going to accept it from our customers.”

More Than Just a Gimmick?

It’s not a publicity stunt, and it’s not taking advantage of the current surge in bitcoin value, says Business Waste – it’s a logical business decision. “To us, it’s just another way to pay for our services. It’s just money,” Hall says. “We’re also accepting litecoin and ethereum.”

Regarding if it’s just tech companies who would pay in bitcoin the company’s spokesperson commented, “You’ll be amazed. Ordinary people are now both mining and trading virtual currencies, and they’re keen to use them to purchase goods and services. And we’re the first in this business sector in the world to accept them. So the answer is ‘every kind of company’. Bitcoin is mainstream now.”

Vietnam Investigates Merchants for Accepting Bitcoin Despite Warnings

Vietnamese authorities have announced that they are investigating establishments that accept bitcoin for payments. This follows reports that restaurants and cafes are still accepting the digital currency despite the government warning that bitcoin is not a legal means of payment in Vietnam.

Investigating Bitcoin-Accepting Merchants

Despite the State Bank of Vietnam warning that bitcoin is not a legal means of payment, the digital currency is still being used to pay for goods and services in the country, Vnexpress reported last week.

Citing that several coffee shops and restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City are still accepting bitcoin for payments, the publication quoted an official of the central bank saying:Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City will be working with the country’s central bank to ‘handle violations’ at several restaurants and coffee shops in the city that have been accepting bitcoin as payment… We have also asked the city’s police department to work with us.

In October, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the Vietnamese central bank announcing that it had completed the legal framework for digital currencies in Vietnam. While bitcoin itself is not banned, using it as a means of payment in the country could result in a fine between 150 million to 200 million dong (~USD8,800). “From January 1, 2018, the act of issuing, supplying or using illegal means of payment may be subject to prosecution in accordance with the provisions of Article 206 of the Penal Code 2015,” according to the bank’s announcement.

Bitcoin Uses Continue

A survey by Infonet found 4 bitcoin ATMs (BTMs) in Vietnam, 24h newspaper reported. All of them are located in Ho Chi Minh City and are also listed on the BTM tracking website Coinatmradar.

One machine is located inside a coffee shop at the corner of Ly Tu Trong – Cach Mang Thang Tam in District 1. The establishment revealed to the publication, “Every day there are dozens of visitors buying bitcoin through the machine located in the store.” Both the number of customers using the BTM and the number paying with bitcoin at the store are growing, the publication noted, adding that: At some cafes in the center of District 1, despite the [sign saying] “Bitcoin Payments Are Not Accepted,” they are in demand from customers (Vietnamese and foreigners), [and] the staff is still handling [it].

Growing Number of Market Participants and MinersAccording to Bitcoin Vietnam’s Nguyen Viet Bach, the number of bitcoin market participants in the country has increased from 30,000 in 2016 to 60,000 this year, Soha reported.

In addition, the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Bureau has received applications to import 1,478 mining rigs during the 10 months ending in October. “Even a high-end jewelry company located in Ho Chi Minh City has filed the import declaration for 100 Bitmain mining rigs from China with an estimated total value of $129,000,” the publication wrote.

New Cryptocurrency Mining Bot Is Infesting Facebook Messenger

Cyber security researchers found a new type of malware spreading across the world via the Facebook Messenger app. This malicious bot is using the many computers it has infected to mine cryptocurrency for its unscrupulous developers at the expense of users.

A couple of cyber defense experts have reported they tracked down a new mining malware spreading via Facebook Messenger, which they named Digmine. Like many similar exploits before, this bot was using infected systems to mine one of the most favorite cryptocurrency by hackers, monero.

First observed in South Korea, Digmine has already been found in Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, and Venezuela. The bot is spreading very fast, using hijacked systems to infect more computers like a virus, and is therefore expected to have reach other countries where it previously remained hidden. While the researchers do not mention it, the fact of where it was first found suggests its most likely origin is North Korea.

Facebook Messenger to Google Chrome

Digmine is sent to victims masquerading as a link to a video file when it is actually an executable script. It affects Facebook Messenger’s desktop and web versions using the Goggle Chrome browser. Once in control of Chrome, it uses the browser to download additional tools for its clandestine mining operation.

In addition, if the user’s Facebook account is set to log in automatically, Digmine will hijack Messenger to spread the the file to all of the account holder’s friends. The use of Facebook is currently restricted to spreading the malware, but “it wouldn’t be implausible for attackers to hijack the Facebook account itself down the line,” the researchers explain.

The researchers shared their findings with Facebook which removed many of the links to Digmine from its messenger app. The company stated that: “We maintain a number of automated systems to help stop harmful links and files from appearing on Facebook and in Messenger. If we suspect your computer is infected with malware, we will provide you with a free anti-virus scan from our trusted partners.”

Hit BTC Introduces Deposit Charges to Deal With High Bitcoin Fees

The cryptocurrency exchange Hit BTC has notified its clients that they need to pay a new fee to deposit bitcoin into the platform. This move might be replicated by more exchanges in time as they try to find ways to cope with the high fees on the network other than not accepting new clients or advising their existing ones to use litecoin or bitcoin cash instead.

Hit BTC Fees

Hit BTC has announced that starting from Friday December 22, users are now charged a fixed fee for all bitcoin deposits. This new deposit fee will be deducted from the amount of any incoming transaction to Hit BTC, and will constitute 0.0003 BTC. The company warns that if a deposit is lower than or equal to the fee, the whole amount will be used up as commission and will not be refunded.

High fees are currently a major concern for all businesses that deal with bitcoin, especially those with higher volume of transactions. Bitpay recently explained that high fees make BTC invoice payments under $100 impractical and uneconomical. The global payments service provider even stopped allowing those sub $100 transactions, enacting a minimum, before hastily restoring them under pressure from the bitcoin community.

Difficult Times

Hit BTC explained the move to its clients by saying that the bitcoin network has been experiencing difficult times “in the last weeks.” The company said that due to highly increased demand, a large number of transactions go through BTC network these days. “It leads to a significant amount of transactions waiting in the mempool, longer processing time and unprecedented fees,” the exchange said while avoiding mentioning any potentially sensitive topic such as small vs big block sizes.

The company also claims that this measure was introduced in order to “strengthen” all bitcoin processes and provide stability in the functioning of the major cryptocurrency. “It would help facilitate processing of incoming transactions and maintain the liquidity and security of bitcoin on Hit BTC at a level we deem worthy of our traders.”

Markets Update: Bitcoin Price Moves Sideways During the Holiday Lull

The price of bitcoin has dropped considerably since it touched its all-time high of $19,600 per BTC on December 17. Since then markets have been quite bearish across the board, leading to lows in the $11K zone on December 22. Bitcoin markets have rebounded since then, and the price per BTC across global exchanges has been moving sideways for the past 72 hours.

Bitcoin markets have been extremely bearish leading up to Christmas day on December 25, 2017. At the moment the price of bitcoin core (BTC) is hovering between $14,000-14,300 on many trading platforms worldwide. However, there has been some significant price spreads between a few exchanges leading people to try and obtain some arbitrage. For instance the price per BTC on GDAX is currently $14,400, and at times the price has been $200-400 higher over the past three days. Bitcoin trade volume worldwide for a holiday is pretty decent as $10Bn worth of BTC has been swapped in the past 24-hours. Visiting a few Telegram channels like the Whale Pool, or the Whale Club people can see that traders are still very active during the holidays.

The top five exchanges trading the most BTC include Bitfinex, Bithumb, Binance, GDAX, and Okex. Right now the USD is the dominating currency traded with bitcoin core, and leads by 39 percent. The U.S. dollar’s lead is followed by the Japanese yen, tether (USDT), the won, and the euro. Bitcoin core is also representing over 47 percent of the bitcoin cash (BCH) trades today, and BCH/BTC trades are the top pairs on Shapeshift. BTC dominance is very low right now hovering around 42 percent with a market capitalization of around $234Bn.

Technical Indicators

Looking at the bitcoin core’s daily and weekly charts show some sideways action and consolidation taking place at the moment. Three days ago a Head & Shoulders formation took place leading to another bearish dip on December 24. The composition following this event resembles the classic Adam & Eve pattern, showing an upside break may be seen in the near future. Currently, there’s still a gap between the short-term 100 Simple Moving Average (SMA) and the long-term 200 SMA. The 100 SMA is still below the longer-term trendline, but the two are getting closer showing bullish sentiment may follow.

Resistance on the upside is deep beyond the $14,800 region and going higher. Look out for stops around $14,500-14,800 if bulls can keep the pressure going. On the back side, there’s decent support around $13,800 but doesn’t get much stronger until $12,950. The Stochastic and the Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) are both moving northbound showing recovery is taking place. A few days ago many traders believed a bearish downturn would eventually lead to prices around $8-10K, but this doesn’t seem probable with the way markets are moving.

Overall Cryptocurrency Markets

Cryptocurrency markets, in general, are mostly in the green right now and the top five digital assets are also healing their wounds. Ethereum (ETH) markets have done considerably well during the dip, and the price of ETH is up 15 percent at $765. Bitcoin cash (BCH) markets are up over 7 percent right now as one BCH is roughly $2,992 per token. Ripple (XRP) is still maintaining a dollar average and markets are up 3.4 percent. Lastly, litecoin (LTC) markets are also up 3 percent, and the price per LTC is hovering around $276 at press time.

The Verdict

Overall traders are confident the prices have deflated because the price shot up at exponential speeds and was due for a correction. Also many suspect that people have “cashed out” for the holidays and the upcoming tax season in certain countries. Overall after rallying for over 45 solid days and almost touching $20K, it seems bitcoin core and a score of other digital assets are trying to find their fair market value.

Bear Scenario: The price could slide back to the $12K zone if bears manage to claw the value down some more. At the moment there is support between the $11-12K price area and it would take some time to go below this range.

Bull Scenario: Market action should increase on Tuesday, December 26 and prices will likely be on the bullish side. On Christmas day December 25, the price has already been moving northbound. If bulls break the $14,800 zone we could see prices around $15.5K in the short term.

Where do you see the price of bitcoin heading from here? Let us know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: Bitcoin price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.”