With the rise of a new currency comes the temptation to speculate with it, and Bitcoin is no differnet.The e-currency’s underworldly appeal, owing to its heavy encryption, has made it ideal for eschewing national gambling restrictions–but it also leaves Bitcoin gamblers with zero legal recourse if they fall prey to a scam.A new betting site hopes to change that.It’s called Predictious , and it has made Bitcoin its currency standard in an attempt to recover some of the popularity of Chicago-based Intrade, another “predictions market” betting website which went under last December after a lawsuit from the Chicago Futures Trade Commission.Predictious allows gamblers to bet on real-life events: Everything from Chris Froome winning the 2013 Tour De France to Mila Kunis winning FHM’s Sexiest Woman of the Year in 2014.Bitcoin allows anyone in the world to trade, and as Predictious is based in Ireland–where such betting is legal–the burden of proof to link gamblers with Predictious’ bets lies in overcoming Bitcoin’s significant encryption.Predictious may be the newest site to bet on real-world events, but it’s not the only horse in the race.

As the Verge notes, sites like Bitbet host similar bets to Predictious, but they’re almost all related to Bitcoin’s value variation.The rest of the online Bitcoin gambling world is a Wild West of casino-style gambling sites with skeuomorphed green tables and Bicycle playing cards, many of which looking straight out of early-2000s Yahoo Games.There’s even a Massively Multiplayer Online Game in the works to merge Bitcoin-powered minigames of luck or skill with Second Life-style avatar interaction.But as Forbes’ Jon Matonis notes, the biggest online gambling names haven’t jumped on the Bitcoin bandwagon for the traditional reasons monoliths don’t move quickly: They’re wary of increased scrutiny from gaming regulators and their users haven’t expressed enough interest.That leaves the field to the risk-takers–but while Bitcoin thrives under the lack of limitations that Matonis outlines (acceptance in countries that Visa/Paypal haven’t reached, no confiscation by third parties, elimination of chargebacks/fraudulent transfer charges due to Bitcoin’s finality, relative immediacy of payment settlement), that leaves little recourse for gamblers skiffed by fraudulent sites.

The Bitcoin community has fought back with directories outlining the comparative risk of known gambling sites, such as Bet With Bitcoin and the BitCoinTalk forum.Those lists include sites for poker, blackjack, slots, dice, roulette, and sports betting–casino standbys–but Predictious is catering to the popular crowd with predictions on events as simple as “What Will Be Q3 2013’s Top Grossing Film” (Pacific Rim?and “Who Will Die At The End Of Breaking Bad” (Walt?Bitcoin’s days submerged only in the smoky digital halls of poker and sports bets are numbered.[Image:Dash prices have been rising steadily since the end of last year, but February and the first few days of March 2017, saw Dash prices sky-rocket.As a result the cryptocurrency is now the third biggest in terms of market cap, although prices seem to have found a more stable footing over the last 48 hours.As with any meteoric rise in cryptocurrency markets, some have raised suspicions about a pump and dump scheme.There is no doubt that pump and dumps are always a possibility, but Dash doesn’t seem to fit the typical pattern of a pump and dump scheme.

The story behind the rise of Dash has many more nuances that should be considered.To understand whether or not recent price increases are indeed part of a pump and dump scheme, the first thing analysts need to focus on is the history of the cryptocurrency.In the case of Dash, there are some red flags.Dash critics will point towards the mining issues that the cryptocurrency went through back when it was called Darkcoin.Evan Duffield, the founder of Dash, was able to mine a significant quantity of the cryptocurrency within the first 48 hours of its creation.dari bitcoin ke rupiahSome believe that this was due to a glitch in the code that Duffield proceeded to fix.btc meaning bitcoinOthers think Duffield did this deliberately to enrich himself.ethereum fakeMore than 3 years have passed since that “glitch” made Duffield the richest man in the Dash economy.bitcoin banque de france

The cryptocurrency went through a long period of price stagnation, even at a time when bitcoin was seen as vulnerable and Dash presented an alternative.Duffield and other fellow Dash developers cultivated a healthy community around the cryptocurrency.They rebranded the coin and took care of making it as useful as possible, connecting it to existing crypto products and services.It seems their efforts and the characteristics underpinning Dash have finally taken off.The markets seem to be rewarding Dash holders.bitcoin hmrcNevertheless that whole “glitch” at the beginning still casts a shadow over the coin.bitcoin rx 580Accusations of “whales” pouring funds into it and generating hype abound and seem to be feeding pump and dump allegations.This coupled with criticism over the centralization of decision making within the Dash network, remain.Nevertheless, this cryptocurrency seems to work.

It looks like it is based on sound principles, and its critics might be over-stretching their arguments.The whole issue with the mining “glitch” is a perfect example.Taking bitcoin as a model – which Dash did, even offering some solutions to privacy, fungibility and transaction speed issues – it would be fair to judge Satoshi Nakamoto the same way that Duffield is judged.After all, Nakamoto mined bitcoin aggressively at the beginning, accumulating as many as 1 million coins.That is worth well over $1 billion USD at the moment.If Duffield did the same, critics should afford him the same treatment they afforded Nakamoto.Apart from this credibility issue, the whole “whale” argument also seems to be over-stretched.Pump and dump proponents seem to think that Dash is vulnerable to huge investors buying significant amounts of the cryptocurrency to pump its price, generate hype, and then sell all their Dash assets at once.Theoretically, an asset-class with a $300 million USD market cap – give or take – is susceptible to such schemes.